Everything wrong summarized in one picture
Posted: June 23, 2012 Filed under: energy, Environment, just because, U.S. Economy | Tags: agribusiness, fossil fuel, sod farms 17 Comments
Vacuuming grass clippings at a sod farm
A sod farm grows lawns for people who can’t be bothered with the whole grass-seed-and-careful-watering effort. It takes tons of fossil fuel. It takes huge quantities of water. You see farmworkers carefully moving the irrigation pipes every few days so that none of the sod gets marred by having a pipe on it too long.
You also see farmworkers walking the fields in formation, plastic bags on their belts, gently using a screwdriver-like tool to remove any weed trying to invade the living astroturf.
And, of course, the new grass has to be cut regularly for the sod to form a nice even carpet. More fossil fuel. Also, grass clippings. The clippings can’t be allowed to matt down. So they are vacuumed up.
We’re living in a world where it’s worth building huge wells drilling thousands of meters down to bring up ancient decomposed bacteria that are refined in enormous factories and then trucked everywhere while releasing their carbon to cook the planet so that fuel can be put into tractors to vacuum grass clippings.
Insanity.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Yep, got it correct, quixote.
I don’t know about other places across the country, but in Florida luxurious, bright green, manicured lawns of non-native grasses are a BIG priority. Keeping them Beautiful wastes precious water, adds pesticide run-off (thank you Monsanto for Roundup) to our streams & underground aquifer. Most of my lawn is green, but it’s primarily comprised of native “weeds” that have taken over & I’m fine with that. They don’t need much water, which works for me too. Just glad I live in an old, not upscale neighborhood without a homeowners’ association.
They sink yards in Arizona and flood them with water to have grass. The energy devoted to keeping golf courses alone is mind boggling. Plus, water is in short supply in that part of the country now because of the overpopulation. Total insanity.
Yes, I’m glad I live in an old neighborhood too. There is some neighborhood association, but I ignore the mail they send me. I think all they do is deal with the town when we need new pavement, because I live on a private way.
Again, not familiar with other areas, but HOAs in Central Florida have approved colors to paint your home, make rules on the number & type of companion animals you can have, don’t allow RVs or boats to be parked in yards, fine you if your home needs repairs and so on. Seems to me they can be as bad as living in a condominium. I’m not saying it’s all bad, but I’ve heard of cases when they are a lot worse than county regulations & the county’s Code Enforcement Department.
I’ve heard of neighborhoods like that. It sounds awful.
Archbishop Tutu at the Rio+20
http://www.un.org/en/sustainablefuture/tutu.shtml
I love Bishop Tutu! I was lucky to hear him speak in person once. Inspiring beyond words.
And he’s right about women, at least in current society. Judging by elites, once women have power some of them can be just as ewww as the other half. Possibly the way to state the general case is “let the meek inherit the earth.”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen sod in my neighborhood. I really don’t like grass lawns. Some people around here have lawns full of flowers. Mine is mostly weeds.
BB in some places you must have a green lawn or you pay and fine and I’ve even heard of threats of jail time. Gated communities and some home owner associations are so extreme that if you use a color of white different from the accepted you get fined.
Golf courses. Dear God, don’t get me started on golf courses. Especially here in the arid West.
The sod farming, by the way, closely tracks the housing market. People trying to sell houses put in quick pretty sod for curb appeal. Two months later it’s dead. Then the new owners also buy new sod. Good for the GDP! During the crash, half the sod farm acreage here was turned over to celery.
Oregon — along I-5 are where all the sod farms are — acres and acres. I’d rather see sheep.
We live in an area that has plenty of rain except in the summer. There are ways to have a healthy lawn without watering but most people just cannot get it through their heads. A mulching mower is the greatest thing, it immediately returns the grass to the earth. In really arid areas such as Colorado, I have seen yards covered in gravel or rock that can have trees but no grass. We need to work with the environment, but it is just not in our brains to do so.
Mulching mower? But, but, but … what about the vacuuming?
:biggrin:
Golpher anybody?
I hate grass.
Genetically modified grass unexpectedly releases cyanide gas and kills 15 cows.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/23/genetically-modified-grass-blamed-for-mass-cattle-deaths-in-texas/
The canaries in the coal mine are getting bigger — poor cows.