Would you get rid of your lawn if it was allowed?

Closed Thread
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 11-25-2019, 01:11 PM
queasy27 queasy27 is offline
Veteran member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 868
Thanks: 457
Thanked 332 Times in 144 Posts
Default Would you get rid of your lawn if it was allowed?

This is not new info, but grass lawns are a detriment to the environment as a whole:

"According to the EPA, we use 580 million gallons of gas each year, in lawnmowers that emit as much pollution in one hour as 40 automobiles driving— accounting for roughly 10 to 18 percent of non-road gasoline emissions.

We also dump roughly 10 times more fertilizer on our lawns than on crops, notes Columbia’s Earth Institute. These fertilizers and the 67 million pounds of pesticides with which we drench our lawns ever year degrade, releasing compounds like nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 298 times more potent than CO2. Potential damages from agricultural fertilizer runoff alone were estimated by one study to cost $157 billion annually.

We’ve managed to make grass do the opposite of what photosynthesis is supposed to accomplish. A recent study out of Appalachian State University pegs our lawns’ carbon footprint at around 25 million tons annually.

It gets better. All America’s farmland consumes 88.5 million acre feet of water a year. Lawns, with a fraction of the land, drink an estimated two-thirds as much. Most municipalities use 30-60 percent of drinkable water on lawns."
  #2  
Old 11-25-2019, 01:24 PM
Two Bills Two Bills is offline
Sage
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 5,617
Thanks: 1,667
Thanked 7,279 Times in 2,480 Posts
Default

What will they find to worry about next?
I like grass, so stuff the Columbia Earth Institute!

Last edited by Two Bills; 11-25-2019 at 01:45 PM.
  #3  
Old 11-25-2019, 01:37 PM
billethkid's Avatar
billethkid billethkid is offline
Sage
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 18,457
Thanks: 0
Thanked 4,743 Times in 1,383 Posts
Default

Growing grass in FL is nothing but a waste of time and money....ya can't grow grass on a sand dune!!
  #4  
Old 11-25-2019, 02:03 PM
Bjeanj Bjeanj is offline
Soaring Eagle member
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Santiago
Posts: 2,118
Thanks: 113
Thanked 1,465 Times in 545 Posts
Default

I like a grassy lawn, especially right after it’s been mowed and trimmed.
__________________
Teach your daughter how to shoot, because a restraining order is just a piece of paper.
  #5  
Old 11-25-2019, 02:15 PM
Arctic Fox's Avatar
Arctic Fox Arctic Fox is offline
Soaring Eagle member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,073
Thanks: 10
Thanked 962 Times in 370 Posts
Default

It is, and I have
  #6  
Old 11-25-2019, 02:18 PM
graciegirl's Avatar
graciegirl graciegirl is offline
Sage
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 40,004
Thanks: 4,850
Thanked 5,493 Times in 1,903 Posts
Send a message via AIM to graciegirl
Default

I sort of think that all those statistics may be exaggerated a tad, but if they were all true...I love the well kept lawns and yards here. I would not do away with green lawns and lovely trimmed bushes. Since Henry does the trimming and I don't have to.
__________________
It is better to laugh than to cry.
  #7  
Old 11-25-2019, 02:20 PM
JimJohnson JimJohnson is offline
Veteran member
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: The Villages
Posts: 724
Thanks: 259
Thanked 1,015 Times in 273 Posts
Default

If getting rid of my lawn would benefit mankind, I would drop it like a bad habit.
I want to add in here, that if we would stop thinking of ourselves so much and consider what would be best for all, this would be a better world. Just because we Villagers can afford to pay high prices for water, don’t forget those less fortunate on the outskirts of our paradise. If my plush lawn is taking away their drinking water, then I will go Arizona rock yard.

Last edited by JimJohnson; 11-25-2019 at 02:35 PM.
  #8  
Old 11-25-2019, 03:01 PM
OrangeBlossomBaby OrangeBlossomBaby is offline
Sage
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 8,418
Thanks: 6,786
Thanked 9,369 Times in 3,050 Posts
Default

Lawns are not a natural occurrence. They're completely man-invented. Grass is natural - lawns are not. If I could afford to gut it and replace it with a variety of native plants, stones, and potted plants, I would. Green lawns just look silly to me, I'll never "like" them no matter how pristine and how perfectly someone cares for theirs.
  #9  
Old 11-25-2019, 03:11 PM
JimJohnson JimJohnson is offline
Veteran member
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: The Villages
Posts: 724
Thanks: 259
Thanked 1,015 Times in 273 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby View Post
Lawns are not a natural occurrence. They're completely man-invented. Grass is natural - lawns are not. If I could afford to gut it and replace it with a variety of native plants, stones, and potted plants, I would. Green lawns just look silly to me, I'll never "like" them no matter how pristine and how perfectly someone cares for theirs.
Well said. I agree. I have a lush green pretty lawn, but would prefer a natural look. Just not so sure the OLD GUARD of The Villages old-timers would embrace the idea of natural yards.
  #10  
Old 11-25-2019, 03:29 PM
OrangeBlossomBaby OrangeBlossomBaby is offline
Sage
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 8,418
Thanks: 6,786
Thanked 9,369 Times in 3,050 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by JimJohnson View Post
Well said. I agree. I have a lush green pretty lawn, but would prefer a natural look. Just not so sure the OLD GUARD of The Villages old-timers would embrace the idea of natural yards.
Some day, we will be the OLD GUARD. And then "we can be the change."
  #11  
Old 11-25-2019, 03:32 PM
JimJohnson JimJohnson is offline
Veteran member
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: The Villages
Posts: 724
Thanks: 259
Thanked 1,015 Times in 273 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby View Post
Some day, we will be the OLD GUARD. And then "we can be the change."
Bingo! Please hurry, I’m in my 70’s now. LOL
  #12  
Old 11-25-2019, 03:38 PM
karostay's Avatar
karostay karostay is offline
Sage
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Conn/Maine /
Posts: 2,781
Thanks: 128
Thanked 1,343 Times in 519 Posts
Default

If we didn't have lawns or green spaces can you imagine how much hotter it would be here? Just take a golf cart ride around Court Yard Villas
__________________
Don't take life Too Serious ..It isn't permanent
  #13  
Old 11-25-2019, 03:53 PM
OrangeBlossomBaby OrangeBlossomBaby is offline
Sage
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 8,418
Thanks: 6,786
Thanked 9,369 Times in 3,050 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by karostay View Post
If we didn't have lawns or green spaces can you imagine how much hotter it would be here? Just take a golf cart ride around Court Yard Villas
Green spaces are great. Lawns are not the best green spaces. For some of us, they're pretty lousy green spaces. I'm partial - as I said already - to native plants, rocks, and potted plants. Plenty of greenery. Grasses - carefully placed and contained, and allowed to grow tall as grasses do when people aren't busy mowing them down to a couple of inches.

Tall lush green plants, wildflowers, herbs, shrubbery, and a couple of somewhat short shade trees that need only occasional pruning and no significant maintenance.

These things CAN grow in Florida, you just need someone to actually start growing it.
  #14  
Old 11-25-2019, 03:53 PM
Villagevip Villagevip is offline
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 249
Thanks: 0
Thanked 78 Times in 35 Posts
Default

I like the innovation, of owners with the curved driveways, right through the lawn, hehe... Leaves only a small patch of grass or rocks for the weeds to grow..
  #15  
Old 11-25-2019, 04:41 PM
NotGolfer NotGolfer is offline
Sage
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: The Villages
Posts: 3,893
Thanks: 2,561
Thanked 958 Times in 389 Posts
Default

I would go for less grass (the upkeep as age) but personally I like the greenery of it. Grasses were put here for a reason, as were the trees etc....but that's my opinion.
Closed Thread

Tags
lawns, million, year, gas, percent

Thread Tools

You are viewing a new design of the TOTV site. Click here to revert to the old version.

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:03 AM.