WE HAVE TO BECOME MORE GREEN

As a country, we have to start changing the way we think. The present mentality is no longer affordable nor is it viable. I am talking about some of the stupid things we do as a country and as a community.
First let’s take a look at our love affair with the automobile. If you drive down any street in the suburbs, chances are you will see nothing but garage doors. The entrance to these homes is to the side, as if it was the architect’s after-thought. The entrance is not important, what is important is the garage.
Second, you have all these “manicured” lawns that require a lot of work and copious amounts of water to keep green. You also have all these exclusive communities with their greener than green meadows and golf courses. That too is wasteful and frivolous.
Third, there is the issue of recycling. I would be a lot happier if my community started to pass on the revenues they make on these recyclables and lower my garbage monthly bill. You see, I am actually doing the work for them by separating the plastic from the glass, the paper from the metal so they can just pick it up and sell it as raw material. Where does all this revenue go to? I would be happy if they put it to work on resurfacing streets, libraries, sidewalks, etc. But these costs are passed on to me when they raise my property taxes. The moneys they collect from peripheral operations such as recycling they just fritter away.
When I purchased my house in Dania Beach it had a large front lawn. The back wasn’t any better. I do have a swimming pool and I was watering my grass every other day using a well I have on the property. Then the problems with the levies at Lake Okeechobee came and the Corp of Engineers decided that it wasn’t safe, particularly if a hurricane came and dumped a lot of rain; so they lowered the level of the lake and rationed the water usage.
My lawn became unsustainable then. Even if I wasn’t using city water, I had to adhere to the water rationing regulations. First it was twice a week, then it became only one day a week as the drought dried up Lake Okeechobee even more. When I went out and looked at my front yard, I was weeping. What was I to do? Imagine how bad those people who live in communities that have home owners associations feel. They are actually required to keep an impeccable front lawn by the by-laws of the association and unable to water the grass.
I began a tedious and time consuming task of removing all the grass. Right now I just have a patch that is located between the sidewalk and the street and a very small portion right on the side entrance. I have been replacing the grass with native plants, with drought resistant vegetation and pebbles, rocks and mulch. It actually looks a lot better than the way it looked with the lawn. That is my opinion but I am sure happier now that I don’t have to fret over how brown and unsightly my front lawn may look. By the way, I am also saving a lot of work and money. I had to cut the grass once a week during rainy season and it would take me at least one hour. In addition I had to spend money on lawn fertilizers, weed killer and of course the water. Now I turn on the sprinklers on Sunday mornings and let it run for an hour to water the plants and trees that could survive just with the rains alone. Isn’t that a much better solution than to overburden the water demand and waste water on a lawn?