I live in a city of addicts. In my own neighborhood, in expensive neighborhoods, in neighborhoods with children. I see these addicts everywhere, and often.
They are addicted to grass. And when I say grass, I mean literal grass. You know the type: green, bladed, grows in the ground, we have gas-sucking machines to cut it to the perfect height, grass.
In the semi-arid climate of Colorado Springs, non-native grass is a exactly that, not native. There are some native grasses that don't need watering often, that evolved in the near-drought and high altitude weather of central Colorado, but for the most part, the people of my city are addicted to grasses with names like Kentucky Bluegrass. I don't know a lot about Kentucky Bluegrass (wikipedia has failed me!) but I know it needs watering often, judging by how often I see it being watered, and that every green lawn (and quite a few of the yellow ones) in town has a sprinkler system installed.
Colorado Springs is overpopulated, in my opinion, and it continues to grow by leaps and bounds. There is a major water shortage here, evidenced by the recent 140% increase in the city water tax. The city even owns the rainwater; it is illegal to collect it in a rain barrel.
Now, to be fair, I think grass is good. It is important to have ground cover to keep soil intact, among other things. I just think it's silly to try to grow non-native grasses that need lots of extra care, especially when that care is in a form that is so scarce here. If this city replaced all its Kentucky Bluegrass with Blue Grama and Buffalo Grass (native grasses that don't require such coddling) we could probably solve the water shortage.
... And now I shall step off my soapbox.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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