U gotta have a green lawn! its another conspiracy!!

Originally posted by theRiverGoddess
And I am NOT even going to go off about Phoenix AZ!!! let it be said
"ITS WRONG WRONG WRONG! shame on them!

give UP the grass folks!!

You are so right about growing graass in arid areas. What a waste of our precious water!!
And, the prize for the most obnoxious excess is: Las Vegas--the epitome of "why they hate us", IMHO!

Also, all you folks who cant be bothered to take care of your own lawns: the award is give for killing off songs birds and beneficial insects with commercial-strength chemicals from companies like CehmLawn

I agree with the line of reason that chemical companies have pushed the sale of their fertilizers and other chemicals intended to make yards look better. I can't see a conspiracy, unless of course you can lump it in with the military-industrial complex, which is actually no longer a theory. The companies that are making stuff to make grass grow lush and green are the same companies that have made compounds such as DDT and Angent Orange, among others.

The 'keeping up with the Joneses' principal went into effect with the advent of track subdivisions in the 50's, the point at which marks what I believe is the decline of American civilization for many reasons such as this one.

The biggest cause of difficulty for us in Utah to get out of our 7 year long drought is the fact that most of the grass we plant is Kentucky Bluegrass, imported from a region of the US that normally enjoys an abundance of precipitation yearly. To maintain this species of ground cover in Utah takes nearly 10 times as much water as our own indigineous species, and at least twice as much water as the species would require in it's natural habitat. This is due to the difference in the topsoil, ours being much less dense and more sand laden.

Measures have been discussed by legislature and solutions implemented such as premiums on high volume water use households, alternate watering days, fines imposed for not washing your car on concrete, and on and on...

But still, xeriscaping your front yard is an infraction that still carries a stiff fine, and don't even think of removing grass from the park strip between the street and the sidewalk (which is owned by individual municipalities) or you could go to jail!

It's getting to be that time of year again that I engage in my own brand of public citizen's enforcement, which usually entails letter writing campaigns targeting business and government facilities who seem to be immune to mandated water conservation efforts, because they always seem to like to water between the hours of noon and 4 o'clock.

The method has proven effective for me in many different scenarios, including privately enforced parking fines. You may want to try it out, if you can write don't mind slinging crap....

Alright theRiverGoddess, I guess you are right. Diversity IS a good thing, because if there wasn't diversity in the way people type, this forum would probably look like a Harvard teachers discussion. And on a somewhat humorous side note, the last time I took a typing class was in the ninth grade. You should see me on AIM - it's horrible: words missing, letters missing, switched letters, and the worst one - say I trying to type 'about it', well instead of typing that, I type 'abou t*t'. The * being an i. Who knows maybe its a my subconcious taking over - or maybe I just suck at typing quickly. Oh, BTW, I'm one of those people that will edit my posts until its completely perfect. I wish those [Edited by ... ] things didn't show up. They are unattractive to the post itself.

Andt Agent47, thanks for defending me. If I could give you some of my measly points, I would. Not like you need them or anything.

About the original topic, I think its just people wanting to have nice lawns. The government and lawn care corporations know this and act accordingly. Basic economics (supply and demand).

[Edited on 5/9/04 by xenophanes85]

People who have to have yards to waste water on should be charged more for their water. Here in Arizona I look around and see alot of water wasted to grow grass. They need to move the Central Arizona Project canals underground too. In order to stop the evaporative losses. If they could move Lake Powell underground that would help also.

I am not some teenager complaining......NO I am a 41 year old woman, who owned a bed and breakfast inn, in Green River Utah.....(not a natural place for GREEN lawns).......over the course of years, I allowed my lawn to die.....and replaced it with many natural beautifull flowers......heavenly blue columbine, flax....in the play and walking areas that USED to be grass, I tossed clover seeds......and the clover is softer than grass, more brilliant in its green hue, and if left unmowed doesnt grow as tall as Kentucky bluegrass (the FAV grass around here)
I was very busy cooking and cleaning for guests at that time, and my yardwork time needed to be shortened. I LOVE LOVE to garden....I grow lovely flower beds and fine vedgetable crops....and if I need to boost the soil I do it with manure, and mulch I make myself.
In kentucky and the southern areas of the USA....lovely carpets of green grass are a naturally occuring plant...rolling hills of green.........WHO wouldnt want that kind of a scene in theyre own yard? so MOVE there I say......
Here in the southwest of the USA (mexico to I bet) it NOT natural.....some people are watering 3 times a week, maybe more.....and there is a DROUGHT going on (global warming ect)
I dont see teenagers complaining on this site ...and if you really think there is something wrong with being enviromentally conscious?......that says alot about you.
California is in a state of drought as well....and I see alot of wildfires eating up all they can in Cali....so please let us all KNOW how your GREEN LAWN saves you and your house from a wildfire THEN and ONLY then...shall I start to worry about watering my lawn here.

TYVM DeltaChaos for being informative in a way I cant seam to accomplish, my dander gets up and I loose the FACTS....and Xenophenes I am waving at you HI HI HI! ( its actually quite challanging to attempt to PUT my personality on a typing screen )

[Edited on 9-5-2004 by theRiverGoddess]

Well considering the Southwest is a desert, yea, I'd say people are watering their lawns more then other parts of the country. The fact that the water supply is low is also attributed to the SW being a desert. People here want nice lawns and they will pay anything to have them. Needless to say, becaues of the demands of the people in the Southwest, companies like Home Depot probably do very well in a climate like this. Becasue the demand is so high, they can raise their prices. Becasue the demand for the water is so high, water companies can raise the prices. Then of course there is the xeriscape option. Being into gardening like you are Goddess, I'm sure you know what this is and can explain it to anyone who's curious better than I can.

And about enviornmental concers, I have heard that by 2050 or so, all the Amazon rainforest will be gone. Why not step up the studies down there and start cataloging EVERYTHING about the plants and animals they find down there. DNA most importantly. If they can catalouge the DNA, perhaps they will be able to reproduce it some time in the future - in a museum. Also, I'm guessing by the time the worlds vegitation population is critical, a chemical process that reproduces photosynthesis will have been inveted. If I was a enviornmental scientist, I know this is what I'd be working on.

[Edited on 5/9/04 by xenophanes85]

Originally posted by nyarlathotep
The green lawn conspiracy? Hah! It is just us homeowners concerned with how our property looks. To all of those complaining: when you own your own home, let's see if you let your lawn die.

Be honest, Nyar..isn't it just a teensy bit because of what the neighbors might say ?

I still say it's best to let grasses grow naturally. If they fade temporarily, so be it. The green comes back after a good rain.

Lawn mowers are noise pollution and nothing more. If they want to go back to the non-power ones that would be fine with me, although it would STILL be an act against nature. But at least an improvement. This earth and it's resources aren't here for us to abuse till there's nothing left, despite what some people might think.

Good post, River Goddess

"Green Lawn Conspiracy"? Well, grass doesn't grow in too many other colors other than dark green, light green, sometimes blue green. I wish I had a red or blue lawn though, that'd be fun. What happens if you don't have a green lawn? Some big monster thingy that some guy basically created with his mind comes and kills you?

River Goddess, I find your way of posting to be confusing. Do you speak in fragmented sentences? I am not trying to flame you, but it is very hard to understand your point of view.

KayEm, it has nothing to do with my neighbors. As I said, it is called pride of ownership. I take pride in owning my home and how it looks, regardless of how my neighbors lawns appear.


Now, if I did live in Arizona, I wouldn't water my lawn the way I do here in L.A.

Besides, all of my family, myself included, takes only 5 minute showers as opposed to the 30 minute variety. Therefore, I should be able to use that excess water for my lawn

My neigbours are utterly racked off. You can guarantee that once one of them gets out the mower, they will be followed in short order by the others. And the day of the week doesn't matter either.

Just across from where I am now there is some old git who hires a gardening company to cut her grass every week. Now, you can't tell me that the grass grows that quick ! And of course the gardening company happily does it because they're getting paid for it. (Can't blame them for that).

Its like dogs barking - once one starts, the others do the same.

TYVM kayEm 4 your kind words..........

I do think this issue SHOULD be addressed.......
Everybody has the right to theyre own opinion.....as well as the right to express themselves in what ever manner pleases them.(me included) Even on days like today when all the neighboors are out with power mowers, and I use a quiet human powered push mower on my Mothers yard. (its Mothers day after all)

Chemical fertalizer companys are THE SAME folks creating DDT.....they dwell in the mindset of creating toxins, good and bad......all for sale! So dont you think they MIGHT have also created this IDEA about everybody needing a GREEN LAWN? This grass seed is unnatural to most areas where its now force grown. Its a 'somewhat' free country, and you have EVERY right to buy into this belief system if you so choose. I am just tossing out a wake up call to any who WILL hear.

My MAIN issue here is the waste of water in the Southwestern USA during drought times. Plus air/noise pollution with MORE waste of fossil fuels.

I am frankly surprised at the flack I am recieving. Other posters can ramble on with BARELY ledgible attempts at typing on other posts.......yet I see no complaints pointed at them, so I am stumped. ~~~~color ME StooooooPid then~~~~~~

I don't know if they created the ideal of always having lush, green ground cover, but they certainly make sure that we don't forget about it.

What bothers me a little bit is how they keep selling the same chemicals year after year, but with some new marketing gimmick to try to push over the competition. Like now, they're hyping the same chemical, but with the ability to 'seal' all the joints in your concrete work so that weeds don't come back. It probably doesn't work any better than it did before, because the product it probably isn't any different than it was last year. It'll sell like sex for a month, they'll recoup they're marketing campaign costs, and enjoy just that much more brand recognition, whether the product performs as advertised or not. And yes, we're just that gullible.

3 of my neighbors are racing to get the greenest, lushest, grass this spring.
I watched them fertilize, seed water, mow, add the weedkiller. Pricetag? 200 bucks a year or so?

ME? I used to be hooked on grass.
I had to kick my addiction, it was an expensive, dirty habit.
It doesn't occur naturally here, it was brought in on trucks. Pushers, like Home Depot, Lowes,
they sold it by the bag as seeds GROW YOUR OWN!
, OR already rolled, and ready for you to use immediately.
Hard to resist. Kentucky Blue, or Hardy Fescue, anything you want!
But I did it, I turned my back on this evil weed.
No more clippings, trimmings for me.
I Xeriscaped from it's hold, I was no longer some poor sod.


This year:
I planted another Yucca, and raked my DG (westerners know what that is.)
I have used 10 times less water, over 3 years, than my next door neighbor. It's a big deal here,
when the rain is 8 inches a year!

"some poor sod"

oh man THATS so funny

Your last statement made me SMILE so much......

Obviously you KNOW what I am saying......!

Xeroscape RULES!

[Edited on 13-5-2004 by theRiverGoddess]

Originally posted by Kano
Thats because its factually incorrect TC, trees are better for soil than grasses and shallow-rooted plants. Better still is the combination of both. If you remove the trees you open the soil up to erosion and allow the water table to rise increasing salinity. As for grass producing more oxygen than a similar biomass of trees, I'd be interested to see statistics as I've never heard of that one.

Wrong, old Foster guzzler one! I am not incorrect. Where did I get my information? How the heck should I know, its been on file in my head for a few years. I don't keep a hard copy of everything I learn, elsewise I'd have to buy a wharehouse in order to store it all!

Now put the pot down, you stoned musician, and go cut some grass! Let me make that clearer, cut the LAWN!! You won't need your pipe for that kind of grass!

By the way, a couple of miles from where I live is a man that I admire, and I've never met him. I do know how he thinks, though. He has not one blade of grass on his property. He had his entire place covvered with those rocks, you know, the white one people border with? Except he has big rocks, small rocks, medium sized; all the way from the road to the foundation to his house.

I'll bet after he did that, he took a sledge hammer to his riding lawn mower!

TRG, this is off topic, but since you have lived in Green River, have you seen this place?

www.abovetopsecret.com...

oh....yes EE...I have.

Watched the changes take place.........wanted OUT of there.......
I brought a bit to MUCH attention to myself by painting murals on Main St with UFOs flying in them lol......
My phone was tapped.......
I saw MIB......
Black helicpoters in formation DAILEY!
Massive military trucks bringing in 'stuff'
Kahki wearing dudes with guns....
I saw THINGS...in the skys.....nothing close enough to say "hey thats a flying saucer"
You would NOT believe what the military did to Green Rivers tiny lil airport OMG!
to answer your question YES. I saw alot....maybe to much
I could make a thread about it....but I bet my phones would get tapped AGAIN, and who knows what might happen to my ability to access the internet???
This IS the reason I left.

[Edited on 18-5-2004 by theRiverGoddess]

Well sheesh....it is THAT time of the year again.......lawnmower sound pollution time...vroooom vroooom.
I got a u2u about a member who just recieved the LAWN RULES for the area he lives in......I hope he posts it, you would'nt believe ALL the darn rules!


I cant even find a working lawnmower......and it keeps raining anyway. Who cares about deep grass when its flooding anyway? eh?

it absorbs more carbon dioxide and creates more oxygen than does a plot of trees the same size.

That's only if you do not cut it, period. The act of cutting grass releases that C02 BACK into the atmosphere as well as the decomposition of the grass clipping releases gasses into the air. Also using electric or gas mowers pollutes...

grass is a good thing,

I agree with you there but we are probably not talking about the same thing