California Cities Considering Alternatives to Grass

Cookie Smith won a home beautification award from the city of Garden Grove, California, for her lush, green lawn. Smith was especially proud of the reward considering that her lawn – which set her back an incredible $10,000 – was artificial, and the city couldn’t even tell. In fact, Garden Grove has a ban on artificial turf.

Ironically, Garden Grove – and many other areas of California – is under a water conservation order, yet they still require homeowners to keep their lawns alive. Smith’s neighbor was shocked when he complied with the order to conserve water and was hit with a $50 fine when his grass withered and turned brown.

From the Ventura County Star:

“It’s kind of like saying ‘We want you to look like Brooke Shields, but we don’t want you to use any makeup,’” Smith said.

Now some cities are reconsidering their lawn laws and exploring alternatives to homes with perfect rectangles of green.

The state’s ever-growing population and the threat of a prolonged drought could kill the concept of the traditional lawn in California, where some communities conduct patrols looking for signs that homeowners are lavishing too much water on their lawns or letting it dribble down driveways.

Officials estimate that up to 70 percent of a family’s water bill is spent on landscaping.

Still, many will be reluctant to abandon lawns entirely. Thick carpets of grass have defined the landscape of suburban America for more than a century, and a healthy lawn in this semiarid climate is a status symbol.

Okay, this is ridiculous. California city councils, what the hell are you thinking? How irresponsible is it to waste precious, scarce water resources on a lawn that does absolutely nothing but sit there and look pretty? Lawns aren’t even as attractive as native gardens can be. They don’t provide food. They don’t provide a welcoming habitat for wildlife. Californians complain about the water restrictions and then turn around and waste thousands of gallons of water on this bourgeoisie ‘status symbol’.

Sorry if I sound like your mother telling you to clean your plate, but there are people in Africa who don’t have a drop of clean, fresh water to drink. This is the sort of thing that makes people across the world view America as a land of selfish, narcissistic idiots.

And people, artificial turf is NOT THE ANSWER. For one, it’s often toxic. It’s made from petroleum. It heats up and kills all of the beneficial organisms in the soil below, essentially rendering the land barren. It can harbor germs. And when your neighbor’s dog drops a deuce on it, that pile isn’t going to decompose and disappear into the earth. It’s just going to sit there until you clean it up. Have fun with that.

Californians and residents of other parched areas of America are going to have to part with their lawns eventually, like it or not. More water isn’t going to magically appear to meet the needs of all of these people plus the millions more that will move there in the next couple of decades, and keep their stupid lawns green.

Link [Ventura County Star]

Does Your College Have Lead-Laden AstroTurf Fields?

Hundreds of colleges and universities across the country have chosen AstroTurf as a low-maintenance, supposedly eco-friendly alternative to live grass. Athletes roll around on it every day, and no doubt fumes and microscopic particles are kicked up into the air during games and practice. Recently, it’s been found that there are disturbing amounts of lead in this bright green synthetic turf.

From Plenty Magazine:

Four New Jersey artificial playing fields have registered high levels of lead, the neurotoxic heavy metal, and the U.S.Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating, according to the Washington Post . And not only that, but the recycled crumb rubber fill used as padding has been found to release toxic volatile organic compounds (VOC)s. These include styrene-butadiene, classified by the EPA as a probable human carcinogen, and whose inhalation can produce irritation of eyes, nose, throat and lungs. Another VOC in the fill, ethylene-propylene, is on EPA’s hazardous air pollutants list.

If your college has an AstroTurf field, it might be a good time to push for an alternative. Of course, you don’t want your school to tear up the fake stuff and replace it with grass they’re gonna pour pesticides and herbicides onto. Push for an organic lawn. If it can be done on golf courses, there’s no reason it can’t be done on your home team’s playing field. You can get more info at SafeLawns.org.

Link [Plenty Magazine] + [Safe Lawns]
Photo credit: Flickr user D. de la Peña