You Are Here: Home » Blog » General » Rethinking the Lawn? In California, Yes

Rethinking the Lawn? In California, Yes

Posted by: Posted date: May 01, 2010 In: General | comment : 1
This Florida neighborhood features lot after lot of mandated St. Augustine grass.

This Florida neighborhood features lot after lot of mandated St. Augustine grass.

As I sit here in the midst of my father’s Florida golf course community, with identical cookie-cutter lawns and eutrified ponds as far as the eye can see, an evaluation of landscape priorities can be fairly depressing. Dad lives is one of those many, many developed communities where the local bylaws state what kinds of grass to grow (St. Augustine) and how often and how high you’re supposed to mow (low). Quantity and quality of drinking water supplies are of grave concern across this state, and yet the irrigation systems spew copious amounts of water into the sidewalks and roadways every morning.

That’s why is was so refreshing to read Cindy McNatt’s column in the Orange County Register this morning: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lawns-246614-idea-lawnless.html.

I’m definitely not an anti-lawn guy. Having a patch of paradise where I can play ball with my kids will probably always be a goal. Here in Florida, though, where the water table perilously close to the surface of the sandy soil, folks really need to rethink their overall priorities.

About The Author

Paul Tukey

An international leader of the green movement, Mr. Tukey is a journalist, author, filmmaker, TV host, activist and award-winning public speaker, who is widely recognized as North America's leading advocate for landscape sustainability and toxic pesticide reduction strategies.

Number of Entries : 1023

Related posts

  • Carolyn Spector Gillis

    Hello from someone who has gone through the Pesticide Battle
    AND WON!
    DON’T LET THE MONEY AND MOMENTUM OF THESE PEOPLE INTIMIDATE YOU.
    They are a bunch of old people with OCD for the most part…many making money from the status quo.
    1. I have raised 2 successful kids and an organic dog in a 2 acre upscale suburban setting with no pesticides by changing my thinking of what a lawn is. It is a lovely meadow where my dog and babies and wildlife can live without fear of poisoning the oceans and ourselves. NO LAWN IS EVER PERFECT ..THERE ARE ALWAYS IMPERFECTIONS ON THEIR LAWNS…side by side mine always looked better to me than the poison lawns.
    2. We moved recently to a condo conplex in Portand Maine on 10 acres of land and they decided that they needed to spray pesticides.
    3. They would not back down and were crude and rude and even got an attorney to speak with my husband to tell me to stop using the email list. I used it to show them the Stanford study that what they are applying is a dangerous carcinogen and neurotoxin.
    4. They kept fighting this and so did I knowing that people like PAUL TUKEY AND MANY FROM THE GOVT SERVICES WERE ON MY SIDE.
    5 Don’t let them intimidate you…we gotch your back!!

    Glad this movement to clean up our systems is having this huge success Paul is the Dandelion King!

Scroll to top