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American Savannah: North American status symbol
Posted by timethief • 7/16/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: documentaries, environment, herbicides, lawns, pesticides, status-symbols, videos, water-consumption
- American Savannah is a documentary directed by Jean-Francois Méan and Ian Lagarde . My husband and I watched it and hope everyone we know watches it too and acts on the information found in it.
"The lawn is so central to American popular culture that it has become a major component of the American dream. The myriad products and events devised around manicuring and decorating lawns have become iconic. ...
American Savannah takes viewers along on a wild and quirky ride into the world of one of America's longest-standing obsessions, the perfect lawn. "
Read the article & watch the video -> www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2009/americansavannah/
Discussion questions:
(1) Do you have a lawn? If so how much time, energy, water and money for "lawn feeding" and weed killing products" do you reckon you invest in it each year?
(2) If you do have a lawn, then would you consider replacing it with edible plants and taking up organic gardening instead?
(3) What's your response to the South Nevada Water Authority encouraging residents to pull up their lawns - they'll pay cash per square foot to see the lawn gone.
(4) Have you replaced your lawn with an organic zeriscaped garden? If so would you care to share your experience?
User Comments
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lawns are a very old status symbol. The use and abuse of water resources has always historically symbolized power. If only people would recognize that the expense of resources (including time) ultimately weakens their position in economic terms.-
- The "status symbol" is a bogus one. Worse still is the pesticides, fungicides and herbicides that people use on these "lawns" they worship. That's not to mention the waste of freshwater on them. At night and in the early morning hours in cities I saw and heard sprinklers going for hours on end to water useless patches of "public grass" when gardens are what people need.
I don't see many "lawns" that where I live. Freshwater is a precious commodity on an island and those who squander water are held in very low esteem.
Here people have ripped up their grass and have taken to planting naturally occurring plants, shrubs and trees that don't require watering. When it comes to food production most here are into zeriscaping and water conservation techniques.
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I do not have a lawn as I am an apartment dweller. LEED guidelines highly recommend replacing lawns with native plants that discourage soil erosion and need little irrigation. Native plants are also more naturally pest repellent and control water run off.-
I'm aware of LEED and so happy we are into that kind of thinking here too.
I think I'll post links for those who don't know about LEED in Canada
www.cagbc.org/leed/what/index.php
Six LEED Gold Sites (British Columbia)
www.bchousing.org/aboutus/livegreen/striving/projects/vancouver_LEED -
TT, if you are interested, non-architectural professionals can get LEED accredited. You just have to order the book to study and take the exam. It's kind of expensive, but it could open up another stream of revenue for you. You could be a LEED advisor for local businesses.
Unfortunately, this really isn't an option here for me here in Chicago. I would say that 60% of architects and designers are LEED accredited here and that number is climbing. It stops being really marketable if everyone is doing the same thing. -
I do believe we have that here as well. In fact I know some builders who have become qualified in LEED. However, I don't have any interest in going after accreditation myself. I'm wondering if your qualifications and skills wouldn't be valued in Canada?
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lawns are beautiful. my aunt in autralia has a cool lawn. she uses water conservation technique to maintain it.-
- The damage that's done to the environment and to the water table and underlying aquifers by those who insist on keeping "beautiful lawns" as status symbols is HUGE.
Given global warming, the most valuable commodity is fast becoming unpolluted freshwater, and conserving it ought to be a high priority that we focus on NOW, before it's too late. -
agreed
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i guess it also depends on how wide the lawn is. so it needs a lot of water. one way to do this, is when doing laundry, you can use the last rinse as a way to water the lawn. that way you conserve water. you can also use laundry water to wash your car.
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@celticmusicfan
That's a good conservation practice and there are many others as well. I suggest that in the future we will be seeing a decline in the iconic bowling green lawns first in "dry" areas and then across the board. In the near future I believe we will all be asking ourselves these questions:
(1) How much do we value unpolluted freshwater?
(2) What price are we willing to put on it as demands for unpolluted freshwater grow and what's stored declines?
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My house has two lawns, one in front, the other in back. The lawn is a low-growing native grass.
Part of my garden is gravelled and it is a never-ending battle to keep the grass out of it and the flower beds. I don't feed or do anything other than mow when necessary and water during the hottest of the summer months. We have an irrigation system connected to a borehole (non-potable underground water).
At one point I considered changing from lawn to bark or gravel and then I realized how much trouble it would be to weed the grass out...it is already an endless battle in the gravelled areas (and yes, there is black plastic beneath the gravel beds) so I decided to keep the lawns because at least they can be mowed!-
- I live on acreage and we do have naturally occurring native grasses and meadows, as opposed to ripping up the soil and planting a lawn. We do keep the grasses mowed because we live in a forest and the threat of forest fires and brush fires is very high. We conserve water and wouldn't even consider using it the way people in the city do.
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I think it is important to remember that people don't have malicious intent when they grow (or install) a lawn. They simply are conforming to the collective norm.
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- I agree with that sage observation. Somewhere along the line it became a situation of "everyone is doing it so let's do it too". I'm thinking that as we experience more and more of the effects of rising food prices due to climate change, that there will be more and more lawns being replaced by gardens. Maybe growing as much of your own food as you can will become a new trend - I hope so.
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As long as utility becomes valued as highly as vanity. One can hope
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While I have a back and front yard, I don't have a lawn, per se. I have put woodchips down and have planted things like mossy phlox and creeping tyme to give it color and interest.
I need to actually weed my driveway and front yard soon. It's getting a bit jungley.
Tarzan should be popping by shortly.
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That's what I did when I re-landscaped my house in Silicon Valley before putting it up for sale. I used crushed granite and creeping thyme and drought-tolerant plants like Cape Honeysuckle and Natal plum, and self-seeding salvias, and a host of other things that just need trimming back from time to time.
Creeping thyme is wonderful...it is a great groundcover AND you can use it in the kitchen. Too bad I can't find it here! -
- Many people here have used blackout landscaping cloth. They cut into the cloth to insert selected drought resistant plants, and then they cover the landscaping cloth with woodchips or with gravel. This seems to work very well when it comes to almost eliminating all weed growth. It sounds like it might work for you too if you ever care to try it.
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TT- I do have the blackout cloth in some places, and need to relay some, as well as add some. It did save time, certainly. I've been negligent about gardening this year. I need to add new woodchips, too.
SV- Ah, yes, the creeping tyme is wonderful-- smells good and blooms lovely colors! I haven't yet used it in the kitchen-- just admired it from it!
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(1) Do you have a lawn? If so how much time, energy, water and money for "lawn feeding" and weed killing products" do you reckon you invest in it each year?
We have a lawn in front. But, the sides are native grass and planted junipers. The water used for the lawn is water left over from irrigating our shelter belt of trees. The irrigation pump delivers too much pressure for the drip system, so watering the lawn is a pressure reducer. No weed or feed. The lawn is only four years old, and we usually just spread seed in the spring. Not much maintenance. Costs are less than $100 per year for maintenance of the lawn portion.
(2) If you do have a lawn, then would you consider replacing it with edible plants and taking up organic gardening instead?
Organic gardening would be great, but the limited water we have on the Rocky Mountain Front, we use for growing the shelter belt. The shelter belt is good for birds and protection of the house from wind, snow, etc when it gets full grown.
(3) What's your response to the South Nevada Water Authority encouraging residents to pull up their lawns - they'll pay cash per square foot to see the lawn gone.
Probably a good thing, but I have never been in favor of paying someone to do the right thing. I would rather tax someone for "x-amount" of extra water used--even if it comes from the owners well.
(4) Have you replaced your lawn with an organic zeriscaped garden? If so would you care to share your experience?
No replacement, as stated in #1, we have some native grasses and junipers on the east and west sides of our house. Looks nice, uses no water, fertilizer or mowing. -
I currently have a lawn but do nothing to maintain it. You can see in my pic that I do not water it and the Texas drought has thoroughly browned it. www.twitpic.com/afqf1
As soon as we have the money we will be tearing it all up planting cactus and other self-sustaining, native Texas plants!-
Excellent Jay! Here is a link to xeriscape pdf specific to San Antonio.
www.gardeningvolunteers.org/phpweb/files/uplink/Twelve_Months_of_Xeriscape_...
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The total amount spent on lawns in North America per year is larger than the Indian Federal Tax Reserve!-
Shocking isn't it?
In the lower 48 states and much of southern Canada, grass is practically an obsession.
The problem with the perfect lawn is that it wreaks havoc on both your wallet and the environment. Between 30 and 40 million acres of land in the U.S. are devoted to turfgrass , and Americans collectively spend big bucks -- about $40 billion or more annually -- on seed, sod and chemicals.
In Canada, which has around one tenth the population of the U.S., sales from all lawn and garden products have risen steadily over the past five years, to over $2 billion by 2007.
While the picture that emerges is varied, it does show some marked differences as one travels from east to west. Households east of Ontario tended to make less use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers than those in the west. However, Easterners weren’t as likely to use water sprinkler timers or capture rainwater for lawn and garden purposes. This mosaic of practices reflects the diversity of local growing conditions as well as economic and legal constraints and social values that exist in communities across Canada.
www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/16-002-x/2007002/10336-eng.htm#footnote1
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I do have a meager "lawn" which consists mostly of crabgrass and clover, and which I water occasionally during the summer. I don't have a problem with municipalities expending resources on common parks, so long as the citizenry are allowed to use them to play on.
During the 1950's, along with importing of the elevated highway from Nazi germany, so te cloverleaves, etc. needed to be greened to a perfect fascistic order. Eventually, (particularly from the 1980's onward) The funding for inner city parks were slashed so that even as less revenue was collected, the lanscaping for those on-ramps and off-ramps to the suburban Blut und Boden could receive adequate care
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We have a flower garden but no lawn. We get so much rain where I live even watering the garden is a once a week thing. Many residents have already converted their lawns and the grassy patches abutting the streets into vegetable gardens. Everywhere you see the sign: "Food, not lawns." Environmental concerns are paramount here.-
Everywhere you see the sign: "Food, not lawns." Environmental concerns are paramount here.
That makes me smile.
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I know that in many places, a beautiful, manicured lawn is considered a status symbol, but I'm quite happy that in my neighborhood, most people spend much time making beautiful (and often edible) gardens. Our lawns are pretty much neglected, but we do live in an area that gets adequate rain so there's rarely any need for watering.
(1) Do you have a lawn? If so how much time, energy, water and money for "lawn feeding" and weed killing products" do you reckon you invest in it each year?
We have a very small lawn in front and back. We spend very little time or energy, and no water and no money on feeding or weed killing products. We use a rechargeable mower, but mow very rarely. If I lived in a different climate where water was not so plentiful, I would probably not have any lawn (because it would have died).
(2) If you do have a lawn, then would you consider replacing it with edible plants and taking up organic gardening instead?
I do have a garden with edible plants and practice organic gardening. I haven't the time or energy to expand the garden any further. I also want my daughter to be able to run around in our yard a bit, and if our entire yard were filled with tomatoes and squash and beans and carrots, I'd probably get really annoyed when she ran around.
(3) What's your response to the South Nevada Water Authority encouraging residents to pull up their lawns - they'll pay cash per square foot to see the lawn gone.
I think that's an awesome idea. It's not a good climate for something like a lawn, and it's a huge drain on the water there to have everyone watering their lawn.
(4) Have you replaced your lawn with an organic zeriscaped garden? If so would you care to share your experience?
no
A lot of people in our area have started growing native prairie grasses and done a lot of native landscaping. Sadly, because our native landscape is prairie, some people and cities mistake the native plantings for poorly maintained yards and have even mowed over them or sent citations to the home owners.-
@annz
I'm happy to hear you are an organic gardener. Thanks for participating. -
@annz: some people and cities mistake the native plantings for poorly maintained yards and have even mowed over them or sent citations to the home owners.
Oh, that just aggravates the *(&# out of me!
Silicon Valley is a winter rain, dry summer area. People who have lawns have to water. Also, the soil is heavy clay, so soil amendments and lots of watering are necessary to make anything but local plants grow.
We had a serious drought and I let my lawn die and opted to direct my limited watering to my trees (I had a green Damson plum tree that I did NOT want to see die...it not only provided me with plums, it was home to at least three hummingbird families). When the drought was over my front yard was dead, except for the trees. To provide some interim relief from the cracked, dried out clay...I just couldn't yet afford to amend, rototill and replant the front yard as I was recently widowed...I bought wildflower mix and sowed the seeds in the yard and the parking strip. I figured what could deal with our weather would thrive and everything else could die.
It worked well...I had lovely wildflowers peeping up and some of them established very, very well. Instead of a lawn I had a carpet of colour in front of my house...it was a lovely alternative to the cracked and brown adobe.
And then one day I came home and discovered one of my zealous neat-freak neighbours had come by while I was at work and mowed it all down. The whole front yard AND the parking strip. There was even a snide note in my mailbox stapled to a sale ad for lawnmowers.
When I finally was able to afford to relandscape the garden, I put in creeping thyme and bronze bugleweed groundcover and crushed granite. Let them mow that!
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(1) Do you have a lawn? If so how much time, energy, water and money for "lawn feeding" and weed killing products" do you reckon you invest in it each year?
Working on that.
(2) If you do have a lawn, then would you consider replacing it with edible plants and taking up organic gardening instead? Most defianetly
(3) What's your response to the South Nevada Water Authority encouraging residents to pull up their lawns - they'll pay cash per square foot to see the lawn gone.
Technically, it's more "green" to go with out a lawn. For my family it would mean using more water and that wouldn't solve a thing. Kids are nasty creatures.
(4) Have you replaced your lawn with an organi garden? Ied garden? If so would you care to share your experience? I have no clue what that is.-
@Shirley
- I apologize for spelling "xeriscape" wrong in the OP. Where I live a lot of people are into it.
"Xeriscaping refers to the conservation of water through creative landscaping. Originally developed for drought-afflicted areas, the principles of xeriscape today have an ever broadening appeal. With water now considered an expensive and limited resource, all landscaping projects, residential or commercial, can benefit from this alternative.
Xeriscapes do not have a single look - almost any landscaping style can be achieved. The principles can be applied to all or part of a yard, in any geographic region of North America.
Xeriscape Benefits:
Saves Water; Less Maintenance; No Fertilizers or Pesticides; Pollution Free (no gas mowers used); Provides Wildlife Habitat; Improves Property Value."
More here -> www.eartheasy.com/grow_xeriscape.htm
LEED refers to (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). It's an ecology-oriented building certification system for residential and commercial buildings from the U.S. Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org). LEED provides benchmarks for the design, construction and operation of a property and covers site makeup, building materials, water and energy efficiency as well as indoor environmental quality. It also provides certification for people who demonstrate an understanding of green building practices. -
We are planning to add rain buckets. Our home will be pretty green. Habitat is moving toward green living by doing whatever necessary to save energy.
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We never water our front lawn, which makes it grow so slowly (and sparsely) that we only have to mow every three weeks or so. The rear lawn gets watered when we bathe the dogs, but otherwise we just let it be. That one gets more shade and so grows much faster. We do have borders around the yard with flowers, ground cover, and strawberry plants, which actually do require water to survive. The space behind the garage/shed doesn't get enough sun for anything but weeds to grow, so we pretty much take the string trimmer (or a machete) back there every once in a while to hack it back into control. Obviously we never water back there. -
(1) Do you have a lawn? If so how much time, energy, water and money for "lawn feeding" and weed killing products" do you reckon you invest in it each year?
Yes. None, except for necessary mowing about once a week. I like dandelions.
(2) If you do have a lawn, then would you consider replacing it with edible plants and taking up organic gardening instead?
Nope. Kids couldn't play on that, and I'm not interested in making the time investment.
I can't respond to (3) or (4) because I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about.-
Hello there and for participating.
Re: question(3)
The article I linked to in the OP contained this quote:
"In Nevada for example, there has been some controversy over whether or not grass is something that the region should live without. In fact, the South Nevada Water Authority has even begun encouraging residents to pull up their lawns - they'll pay cash per square foot to see the lawn gone. But they're competing with the sun-belt lifestyle."
Re: question (4)
I spelled xeriscaping wrong. Please see this for the explanation www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/american-savannah#comment_1035398 -
Ah, it's no wonder this was all alien to me. I live in the midwest--our lawns are watered by a little thing we like to call rain, so the issues are a little different. Until I read further based on your response here, I couldn't imagine why it might seem advantageous to rip up existing lawn.
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- I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough to begin with in the OP. Where I live water is precious. Granted it does rain all winter, but our spring, summer, and fall seasons are very dry. We are all on private wells and water conservation is the status quo.
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It's very interesting; it's not an issue I would ever have considered without your post. I have heard of certain areas in the U.S. having watering bans during droughts, but always thought that the drought was the reason people might be watering in the first place. Although I do occasionally see lawn sprinklers, it's definitely not a regular thing. I've never watered a lawn in my life--it really never crossed my mind that there were places where it was necessary on a regular basis. That definitely changes the analysis.
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@MadameX
There are still cities and towns in dry zones that have lawns at courthouses, libraries, town squares, etc. The lawns are feed herbicides and pesticides. They have sprinkler systems on timers and are watered every night on the taxpayer's dime.
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Hey TT, I actually live in SNWA jurisdiction.
(1) Do you have a lawn? If so how much time, energy, water and money for "lawn feeding" and weed killing products" do you reckon you invest in it each year?
We do have a teeny tiny front lawn. Most of it is rocks, but we don't pay much for it.
(2) If you do have a lawn, then would you consider replacing it with edible plants and taking up organic gardening instead?
In southern Nevada, an organic garden, especially in a front yard would be more difficult to maintain.
(3) What's your response to the South Nevada Water Authority encouraging residents to pull up their lawns - they'll pay cash per square foot to see the lawn gone.
It's one of their better programs, but the bottom line is southern Nevada uses too much water, period. Most people act like we live anywhere else but a desert. As a long as the area has any growth, we'll always have a huge water problem ... even if everyone had xeroscapes.
(4) Have you replaced your lawn with an organic xeriscaped garden? If so would you care to share your experience?
Our backyard is all natural desert plants that would qualify as a garden. For a small play patch we installed some fake lawn. It looks nice; just don't walk on it in the heat. -
@Rich
It's good to hear from you. I was particularly interested in your response to the South Nevada Water Authority program. I believe we will be seeing more of these programs across North America. There's little doubt about the value of unpolluted freshwater. There's also little doubt that the demands on it are high. The depletion of freshwater supplies due to the effects of climate change are being assessed in most jurisdictions up here and new plans for conservation are being developed. One focus of those plans is consciousness raising aimed at reducing demand.
A single lawn sprinkler spraying 19 litres per minute uses more water in just one hour than a combination of ten toilet flushes, two 5-minute showers, two dishwasher loads, and a full load of clothes.
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Up here we do have watering restrictions, even though there is often plenty of rain. They aren't particularly stringent, but Fargo likes to be known as a green city. They actively promote xeriscaping (and have a demonstration garden parked over a large block that houses the main water treatment plant). Happily, there's also a terrific resource with the university in town and they've worked together to make a book that explains the concept and offers many examples of native plants that can thrive in this region. Unfortunately, most of them are tall, brown grasses.
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Thanks for your reply. It sounds like Fargo is water aware and that's good to hear. I'm particularly delighted to hear that they are promoting xeriscaping.
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Rivers Losing Water Due to Climate Change
"The Colorado River, the Yellow River in northern China, the Ganges in India and the Niger in West Africa are losing water, in some cases because of the effects of climate change, a new study finds. The study examined stream flow in 925 of Earth's largest rivers, and found significant change in about one third of them over the past 50 years. These rivers, all key sources of water for the regions they flow through, were found to be funneling less water through their channels." www.livescience.com/environment/090421-river-flow.html
- Water facts
* About 70% of the earth is covered in water.
* Freshwater lakes and rivers, ice and snow, and underground aquifers hold only 2.5% of the world's water. By comparison, saltwater oceans and seas contain 97.5% of the world's water supply.
* 68.9% of the earth's fresh water exists in the form of glaciers and permanent snow cover.
* Of the total world's freshwater supply, 30.8% is groundwater, including soil moisture, swamp water and permafrost.
* Only 0.3% of total global fresh water is stored in lakes and rivers.
* Fifty percent of the world's wetlands (water recharge zones for freshwater aquifers) have been lost since 1900.
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