Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
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Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
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Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#2I’d love to see my “progressive” city end setback laws, which require me to keep 15 ft of either grass or dirt in front of my house.
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#3Are scientists often in a position to provide advice with holistic value? I'm usually quite skeptical of advice like this when it comes from someone who is laser focused on a specific domain.
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#4I’d love to see my “progressive” city end setback laws, which require me to keep 15 ft of either grass or dirt in front of my house.
Are you saying such laws are progressive or not progressive?
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#5The article seems sloppy.
It’s just grass with pesticides.
I take care of about two acres of lawns across a few properties for a few decades. I’ve never put pesticides on the lawns. Herbicides, sure, sometimes lots of herbicides, but all very much plant specific. I suppose some places must use pesticides, but here in the middle of the US grass just sort of uses sun, water, nitrogen, and some other stuff and grows.
Also the sentence attributing Illinois prairie loss to global warming is hogwash. Global warming didn’t turn the prairies into giant farms.
So, grumpy stuff said, I do keep lots of varied native plants too. Grass is just for the area that want to survive occasional foot traffic and be open to show something else.
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#6Are scientists often in a position to provide advice with holistic value? I'm usually quite skeptical of advice like this when it comes from someone who is laser focused on a specific domain.
lawn care invites exorbitant water consumption, pesticide use, creates smog from lawn mowing, and induces a mono-culture ecosystem.
I for one would like drought tolerant (in CA anyway) native plant species to fill our lawn spaces...especially the ones that get rarely used.
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#7Are scientists often in a position to provide advice with holistic value? I'm usually quite skeptical of advice like this when it comes from someone who is laser focused on a specific domain.
lawn care invites exorbitant water consumption, pesticide use, creates smog from lawn mowing, and induces a mono-culture ecosystem. I for one would like drought tolerant (in CA anyway) native plant species to fill our lawn spaces...especially the ones that get rarely used.
Yeah. I'm not debating the specific case here. I generally think this is good advice. My back yard is 100 foot maples and artificial grass because normal ground cover will not grow under that canopy.
But broadly speaking, I'm skeptical of taking advice from a domain expert rather than some form of generalist who synthesizes understanding across the board.
I want to know what the civil engineer has to say. I want to hear from the urban planner, the child psychologist, the sports medicine expert, etc. My yard is used in a lot of ways.
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#8I’d love to see my “progressive” city end setback laws, which require me to keep 15 ft of either grass or dirt in front of my house.
Setback laws are usually about not building a structure too close to a lot line. On the front, a minimal setback keeps the street from becoming a canyon. Larger setbacks are more of a look and feel thing for a neighborhood. Front setbacks may also be governed by adjacent houses to encourage all the fronts to line up. It’s tidier that way.
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#9Some people live where the lawn will take over given half a chance. Not everyone lives in Phoenix or whatever. Nor is pesticide use required to have a lawn.
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
lawn care invites exorbitant water consumption, pesticide use, creates smog from lawn mowing, and induces a mono-culture ecosystem. I for one would like drought tolerant (in CA anyway) native plant species to fill our lawn spaces...especially the ones that get rarely used.
Yeah. I'm not debating the specific case here. I generally think this is good advice. My back yard is 100 foot maples and artificial grass because normal ground cover will not grow under that canopy. But broadly speaking, I'm skeptical of taking advice from a domain expert rather than some form of generalist who synthesizes understanding across the board. I want to know what the civil engineer has to say. I want to h…
Well, you say you're skeptical of taking advice from a domain expert, but then you list a lot of, apparently, domain experts you want to hear from.
I agree with the latter sentence - I want to hear from a lot of people with narrow expertise and different perspectives on anything important, but I probably don't care what a generalist thinks, because why should they be better at synthesizing the experts than me?