Grass Is Always Greener on the Artificial Lawn

0 Comments | Insight on the News, March 1, 2004

Byline: John Elvin, INSIGHT

Grass Is Always Greener on the Artificial Lawn

The idea of the lush green lawn surrounding one's residence traveled to the United States with immigrants from the damp and fertile countryside of England and since has become a suburban American fixation. There's a slight problem with this obsession, as no small number of homeowners and governments concerned with water supply have learned. While some regions of the American landscape indeed may reflect the climate and soil from which the lawn concept emanated, many do not.

The more arid sections of the country were meant to be inhabited by lizards and cacti, not vast carpets of finicky little blades of bluegrass. That's the story from Southern California., where the Los Angeles Times reports that well over half of residential water use in Orange County goes into keeping lawns sated.

The solution? Hey, we're talking California: Fake it. Actually, fake lawns now are in evidence in much of the Southwest. In some communities such as Las Vegas, where the live-grass portion for new homes may be no more than 50 percent of front-yard space, artificial grass is the rule rather than a suggestion.

Today's fake grass, by the way, is much improved over the rough texture of Astroturf. It's soft, supple and looks very much like the real thing.

It's also a lot more expensive than sod. On the other hand, maintenance is a breeze, and the homeowner can face the restrictions accompanying drought with equanimity. Who knows, maybe artificial lawns will give that region where water-economizing air conditioners, refrigerators, toilets and washing machines already are the rule a longer lease on life. Perhaps it will be a century or more before the region returns to shifting sands, bleached bones and slithery creatures designed to survive in such climes.

Dear President Bush: Walk, Don't Run

If a note from Insight reader Edwin R. Riley is to be believed, there is some wisdom in the popular quip that it makes no sense to run when no one is chasing you. The sentiment was not shared, Riley notes, by President George W. Bush until a knee injury slowed him. Riley, a retired military officer, wrote to the president to tell him of the benefits of slowing down a bit.

Riley tells us he's not sure whether President Bush saw his letter, so he wondered if some of the pertinent facts could be put in this column where, of course, the commander in chief would be sure to see them. Well, we're not susceptible to flattery but, on the other hand, this advice might be beneficial to a host of readers, so glad to oblige.

Riley cites a medical authority who says that running is not just a source of wear and tear on the knee joints, but "can upset the stomach as well. Upper-tract symptoms include bloating, heartburn, nausea and sometimes vomiting." Hey, are we having fun yet? Sounds more like the aftermath of a fling in a wild border town than the effects of an alleged pathway to better health.

You can achieve better results just by maintaining a routine, according to Riley. "I have been walking, carrying a cane, three miles every day, rain or shine, summer or winter, for many years and have no knee problems," he writes. "At age 83 I have little health difficulties."

Our correspondent adds that the president could shine the light of favorable publicity on one of the many hiking clubs in the area of the nation's capital if he would join in their wanderings into the wilds. As an afterthought, he suggests that President Bush even could consider hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Riley seems to have Bush's best interests at heart, though that particular idea gives one pause. If recollection of reports from those who have done it serves, hiking the Appalachian Trail in its entirety can take one out of the limelight for several months.

Kids, Forget Disney World, We're Going To Guatemala!

Brad Olsen is at the forefront of a growing trend in travel guides. In a series of notes exchanged with this column, Olsen told of his fascination for "pyramids, mountains, sanctuaries, lost cities and pilgrimage routes" that constitute sacred places of the world. Having written two books on the subject, the author is now developing a TV series based on his relatively unique interest. Olsen sent along an advance copy of the revised edition of Sacred Places Around the World, due out this spring. The book covers more than 100 sites around the world, many in the United States, including a Stonehenge-like construction in New Hampshire, the Coral Castle in Florida and the Bighorn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming.

A man with a mission, Olsen says his visits to these locations opened him up to "many new insights, both concerning the world and myself." He believes readers who make such journeys will have similar experiences. It doesn't take long to get the picture that the author is very much into New Age thinking and accepts as matters of substance some rather controversial theories.

The open-minded reader traveling along with Olsen likely will be informed and challenged, and may at times take exception to the author's conclusions. Are these places genuinely sacred, or are they simply possessed of mystique? "You can view a sacred place as an interesting pile of rocks or a place long venerated by our ancestors," he observes. "Some will inspire, some disappoint."