Global Warming
Why America Needs To Break Up With Front Lawns
We routinely damage our environment with the most basic lawn care.
My old neighborhood in South Tampa was inundated with bluebloods and sprawling estates. The air was thick with the scent of jasmine and the rattling sound of cicadas.
On any given day, around 7 PM, you could walk through it and hear the rhythmic sputter of sprinklers doing their evening dance on mint green lawns, which were always freshly cut, drawing perfect contrast to the white homes and black luxury cars in every driveway.
There was one neighbor, who was the only man with a smaller house than mine. We called him “the holdout” until the title was generously passed down to me. His house was dilapidated and out-of-place among these McMansions on every street and corner. The grass in his lawn was overgrown and patchy. Broken machinery littered the side of his house, with an overturned mower, disregarded and left with its sharp bowels exposed to the sky.
His once white fence was now a grey hue with several of the planks turned sideways and falling forward. His grass had a dozen types of weeds and grasses in it alone, all of different shades. They unapologetically grew to make the lawn resemble a small meadow.
