Tear Up Your Lawn

Matthew Fleischer has always hated lawns as wasteful and useless. But his hate is at a fevered pitch after reading about how the desire for lush green grass in literally draining states dry. America’s lawns and golf courses require about 200 gallons of water per citizen per day. We could curb drought if we switched to warm-season varieties of grass—but that would mean lawns would go brown in the winter.

So are the powers that be pushing a PR campaign to convince people it’s OK to have a brown lawn sometimes, if it averts ecological disaster? No, Fleischer writes for True/Slant—instead we have scientists trying to genetically engineer green, low-maintenance grass, or politicians lobbying for ever-more elaborate irrigation systems. “Running out of water is a big deal,” Fleischer writes. “So tear up your lawn. Or at least let it go brown for a month or two.” (More lawn stories.)