The Great Green Carpet Of Suburbia

Southern California is on the cusp of an epic struggle over the future of the residential lawn. Arrayed on one side are the foot soldiers of the turfgrass industry, from chain nurseries to mow-blow-and-go outfits—130,000 people in California alone. On the other is a tiny coalition of anti-lawn types, most of them environmental activists who say we can't afford to squander our limited natural resources on endless acres of turfgrass. Caught between these two opposing camps are homeowners who, for the most part, are blissfully unaware that a war is being waged for their hearts and minds... They require vast amounts of chemicals in the form of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizer, which turn them into environmental minefields. They don't support our native fauna, which leads to a breakdown of the local ecosystem. 'A lawn,' Brad says, 'is almost completely useless.'"

Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan