Our Obsession with Green Lawns
Eric Alan Campbell
COMM215
October 13, 2014
April Adams

Our Obsession with Green Lawns The manicured lawn exploded into popularity in the 1950s. The advent of inexpensive motorized lawn mowers and fertilizing chemicals made lawns a reality for the middle class. America has over 50,000 square miles of grass in cultivation. Now in 2014, California is facing a drought like none seen before in modern times. Crops are withering, lakes are running dry, fires are catching everywhere and yet, around every corner, I see manicured lawns. Vast expanses of nothing but healthy, beautiful, allergy inducing grass. It’s irresponsible, and harmful to our environment and economy. The 2013-14 rainfall season is on track to be the driest in 434 years, according to Lynn Ingram, a paleo-climatologist at UC Berkley. The concern generated by this drought brought together a group of emergency planners and water managers for an event known as the “California Drought Outlook Forum” on February, 20 2014 in Sacramento, California. They determined that the water outlook for the state was similar to the droughts in the 1970s. However, our water obligations have increased greatly in the following decades. Marty Hoering of the NOAA states, “The stress created by the current failed rains is more severe than for similar rainfall deficits 40 years earlier.” The central focus for this concern is the substantial agricultural business that California sustains, from avocados to almonds to pistachios, a number of crops are grown in California’s fertile central valleys. A recent report estimated that indirect and direct losses to agriculture would amount to $2.2 billion, and lead to the loss of over 17,000 seasonal and part time jobs. An even greater cause for concern is that the historical record shows that western North America went through a large scale drought in the medieval era, between 850-1110 A.D. This so called ‘perfect drought’ was caused by an atmospheric depression known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which contributed to long term aridity in the western United States. (MacDonald, Kremenetski, & Hidalgo, 2007) Irrespective of this knowledge, many western state water managers do not have solid emergency plans in place. If they do have plans in place, they rely on perhaps useless or outdated indicators to respond to drought conditions. “Most states selected their indicators randomly, ‘out of a hat,’ without knowing whether they ‘worked.’ Once selected, indicators suffered from neglect, stemming from lack of relevance and credibility, which led to lack of use and evaluation, which reinforced the problem of knowing whether they were effective.” (Steinemann, 2014) Armed with this knowledge, I believe informed citizens can help make a change. The California Department of Water Resources reports that the water needs for domestic, industrial and agricultural uses in Southern California alone totals 10 million acre feet of water annually. One acre foot equals approximately 1233m3. Typically 60-90% of all water usage by single-family residences is used for landscape irrigation, and most of that is used to water grass. (Sovocool, Morgan, & Bennett, 2006)
The general idea the average person holds is that grass should be green year round. The truth of the matter is, during hot summer weather, most monoculture, or single species, turf grasses will go dormant and turn brown. When the cooler fall weather returns, the water requirements become sustainable, and the grass returns to its preferred green color. This effect is reflected in the natural long grasses in California, which as any resident knows, turn all shades of brown during the summer months. Combined with a strict watering schedule, allowing our grass to go dormant becomes one option for conserving water.
Another option is replacing grass with low water use landscaping. Also known as ‘xeriscaping’, this alternative has proven to reduce water costs for consumers by 50-70%, in addition to lower labor costs for maintenance and upkeep. (Sovocool, Morgan, & Bennett, 2006) Water savings in the same study averaged 9 gallons per square foot per month over turf using houses in the summer months. Clearly this is a viable option for Southern Nevada, logically it would be a viable option for California.
In his article ‘Why Mow?; The Case Against Lawns’, New York Times journalist Michael Pollan claims that “(l)ately we have begun to recognize that we are poisoning ourselves with our lawns, which receive, on average, more pesticide and herbicide per acre than just about any crop grown in this country.” (Pollan, 1989) These toxic chemicals end up in our lakes and streams, killing wildlife. Lawn reform advocates even claim that planting vegetables and herbs and ground cover or native plants over existing grass can cut water usage substantially. This is another alternative.
Proponents of green lawns argue that these claims against their cause are baseless. Some say that there is no need to fertilize or apply pesticide to a lawn. Others say that air-polluting lawn mowers can be replaced with electric alternatives. Fire-safety advocates claim that defensible space is necessary around homes, however, this is easily achieved by keeping the greener vegetation closer to the home. And none of these objections speak to the fact that water conservation should be the top priority.
Conclusively, considering California’s history of multi-annual droughts, and a traditionally high level of annual water usage, it falls upon land owners in California to take it upon themselves to lessen the impact of the drought. There are many viable options, some of which even directly save the land owner money and time. The old American dream of a manicured lawn has died with the 1900s. It’s time to examine responsible and safe alternatives.

References
MacDonald, G. M., Kremenetski, K. V., & Hidalgo, H. G. (2007). Southern California and the perfect drought: Simultaneous prolonged drought in southern California and the Sacramento and Colorado River systems. The 22nd Pacific Climate Workshop, 11-23.
Pollan, M. (1989, May 28). Why Mow?; The Case Against Lawns. New York Times, p. SM22.
Sovocool, K. A., Morgan, M., & Bennett, D. (2006). An in-depth investigation of Xeriscape as a water conservation measure. American Water Works Association Journal, 82-93.
Steinemann, A. (2014). Drought Information for Improving Preparedness in the Western States. Bulletin of the American Meterological Society, 843-847.