Grass Is The Most Wasteful Crop In The US. Should We Ban It?
The American Southwest is running out of water fast. Nevada is imposing a ban on all "useless grass," meaning the American dream of a manicured lawn and white picket fence could become a thing of the past.
@stux To answer the question "Should grass be banned":
No, because native grasslands are important to many ecosystems.
But use of non-native species in lawns and public spaces, and monstrosities like golf courses absolutely should be.
@stux They just need to come up with a way to make it illegal to water your lawn. If it burns, it burns. As for having no lawn, those of us in rural areas tend to like them as it makes a buffer to keep the wildlife a little further away (not that the deer care). But it at least allows us to see what's out there before we let the pets outside. We mow about 3 of our 10 acres, the rest I brush hog a few times a year to keep it as field rather than have it go back to being scrub.
An example of the difficulty faced by any less/no grass movement:
Most homeowner associations (HOAs) mandate maintenance of a proper front lawn. No British-style gardens or overgrown grass.
HOAs govern 25+ million US homes.
@DemocracySpot@robertnorlyn@stux You have any data on that? I wouldn't be quick to generalize to "most." There's no HOA here; I just like mowing and having a nicely cut and managed lawn. Plenty of water here too. I wouldn't try that in a desert like California.
@stux I grew up in an area with large sod farms. They were right next to produce crops. The whole area is one of the largest drains on the water supply but is also one of the largest suppliers of tomatoes and greens in the country. The sod farms in the area have shrunk over the last few decades.
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