Killing Manicured Lawns for the Sake of the Environment

A well-manicured lawn has benefits for two types of organisms, neither of them human, with fire ants being one and golfers being the other.  In general, the only good environmental thing one can say about a lawn is, well, at least it's better than astroturf (i.e. made out of plastic).

When one person wastes a lawn to turn it back to a more balanced state then it's wonderful but when a whole state does it then it's a marvel.  California established a $350M program to wipe out grass lawns in the state.  Their primary motivation was reduction of frivolous waste of water for keeping the lawns suitably irrigated but there are many benefits beyond that as well.  (Scientific American In California, a $350 million social experiment over lawns)


Since the program started a couple of years ago, we want to know if it worked.

In Southern California’s Irvine Ranch Water District, which spent $638,403 on lawn rebates since 2014, workers sent surveys and drove block to block to nail down just how many homeowners joined the lawn-less trend.

Irvine’s pilot study found that for every three homeowners who took the rebate, at least four others converted their lawns to less water-hungry plants. Water experts say other factors besides the rebates played a part, including news reports about turf removal programs and the governor’s drought-messaging.

Rebates aren’t about trying “to buy up all the turf in California — that wouldn’t be cost-effective,” said Ellen Hanak, director of the water-policy center at the Public Policy Institute of California.

Instead, the rebates have built awareness that water-thrifty landscapes also look good, Hanak said.

- Scientific America

That summary is more subjective than empirical and the general vibe is there were positive benefits albeit with little detail on how money was spent although it notes some of it didn't cost anything since some homeowners seem to have converted the lawns without claiming a rebate.

It's not hyperbole up the top that only fire ants and golfers really appreciate a good lawn and the reason is obvious for golfers but for fire ants the reason is the watering gives just the right amount fire ants like and the mowing keeps the vegetation to the preferred height they like.  The lawn here is rarely well-manicured but it's still a magnet for fire ants with their mounds all over the place.

Fortunately, it doesn't attract golfers since fire ants are bad but golfers are insufferable.

Note:  fire ants usually won't bother you if you don't bother them.  They're not at all like Republicans that way.

Ed:  you just had to slide on in there, didn't you.

It's me job, mate.

There's no need to flog an old point from Ithaka that it's much better to have natural gardens than artificial lawns because all of God's chill'uns will love you for it.  We have no idea if God wants anything to do with yellow jackets or biting flies but everything has its place in the Great Circle and natural gardens support that as much as possible.

Ed:  and butterflies!

Definitely and butterflies.

There won't be a segue to the Rock City from this theme because God may tolerate yellow jackets and biting flies but we won't.  The ecosystem within the Rock City will be highly artificial but that will be predicated on the fact we are no longer forcing that artificiality on the surface level of the planet, at least not for arbitrary purposes such as making lawns for arguably aesthetic purposes.