AGORA HILLS, Calif. — Erin Brockovich rose to prominence decades ago as an environmental activist who exposed corporate fraud in polluting drinking water.
So she felt a little defensive. TV reporter I asked how her name landed on the list of water guzzlers during California’s disastrous drought. I have received my bill.
Brockovich eventually settled in Agoura Hills, a suburb of large homes with immaculate gardens about 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, at the center of a backyard oasis she’d built over the last 20 years. I decided that I needed to remove the lawn that was part of it. She replaced her 3,100-square-foot lawn with high-tech artificial turf.
“This is not a fire drill. We all have to participate,” she said. “We have to get over that responsibility and grief.”
For a century, lawns have been one of Southern California’s most persistent middle-class fantasies. Single-family homes with manicured emerald gardens remain lush even in the middle of summer for many of the region’s natives. Vegetation is golden.
But as climate change reveals the limits of water supplies, homeowners and water officials say the end of the dry lawn may finally be here.
Where once residents squinted at gardens that resembled desert dioramas, there are now parades of cacti, native plant gardens, and gravel beds strewn with artificial turf. The change reflects peer pressure from a different kind of neighbor, overheated by the draconian new water restrictions that went into effect in June.
300 applicants were sought per month for most of the past year rebate According to Southern California’s Metropolitan Water District, a utility that supplies water to 19 million people, this is what they paid homeowners to replace their grass. In May, that number jumped to 870. In June, it was almost 1,400.
Many people don’t even need cash incentives. A recent study by the Water Department found that for every 100 homeowners who took advantage of the rebate, an additional 132 took advantage of the rebate.
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In Woodland Hills, in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles, Alex Hoffmaster and Camilla Jessen recently purchased a dry lawn ranch home.Instead of reviving it, they decided to install decomposed granite Native plants inspired by the family across the street.
“It makes no sense to put up grass here in the Valley,” Jessen, 45, said on a recent 100-degree afternoon as he led his five-month-old son, Scout, into some shade.
A few blocks away, Jerry Lansdowne, 71, surveyed the small lawn outside the house he purchased in 1997.
“I used to take care of the lawn,” he said, shaking his head. I remember fondly how I used to mow the grass for The reward was enjoying a beer in the shade of the mulberry trees.
But Lansdowne said he’s been looking to replace the grass recently due to prolonged drought.
Nearby Hollywood has long exported visions of the American dream, including neat homes with manicured lawns. (Pictured “The Brady Bunch” kids jump out the sliding kitchen door of the house — modeled after the real thing In the San Fernando Valley, and always in your lush backyard. )
Despite its depiction, the area has a hodgepodge of communities with varying landscaping practices. Many areas of Los Angeles have gardens that would be considered small by Midwesterners, for example, and dirt lots and concrete are hardly uncommon.
Still, real grass often reigns supreme in wealthy neighborhoods.
At Hancock Park, a historic enclave in central Los Angeles, Bill Newby, 65, said the sloping lawn was integral to his community’s identity.
“We always see people coming into this neighborhood while jogging,” he said. “Halloween is fun here.”
Newby said he was trying to follow the city’s water restrictions, but Allotted 2 days a week —he found them frustrating.
“I don’t think watering a lawn a few days a week is a major use of water compared to farming or a golf course,” he said. We all have to do our part. But is this an easy target?”
Experts say just removing the lawn won’t solve the state’s water problems.And there’s a persistent debate about who should bear the more painful cuts: residents of California’s cities, where per capita water use is steadily declining. or a farmerthey say they grow food for the country.
Southern California’s rise was based on easy access to water.Los Angeles Aqueduct Opened in 1913rapidly channeled millions of gallons of water more than 200 miles from the Owens River Valley into the nation’s second most populous city. This was a triumph of engineering against nature.
Los Angeles’ growth in the decades that followed was matched by a booming middle class that traced its aspirations for suburban homesteads back to the English countryside. According to Christopher Sellers, a history professor at Stony Brook University who has written about lawns in the United States, there lawns were an early means of showing wealth conspicuously among the landowner class.
American gardeners developed more nutritious grass hybrids designed to survive in warmer, drier climates, but still required regular watering. Heading over to California, it took hold as what Sellers described as “a cultural norm, an expectation.”
The sprawling Los Angeles area was built on the idea that anyone could own a piece of land with a lawn and driveway. Still, just a glimpse of the nearby nature reserve tells you what kind of plants thrive here.
On a recent sweltering afternoon, Evan Meyer trekked the winding dirt trails of Sun Valley, another neighborhood in Los Angeles, stopping on a flat hill to take in the expansive views. , heads the Theodore Payne Foundation, a non-profit organization that runs an increasingly popular native plant nursery.
In the foreground, Mayer pointed out the expanse of the mottled khakis and rust of the Verdago Mountains. In the background loomed the Santa Monica Mountains, covered in coastal sage shrubs.
“And then you see the urban environment of the San Fernando Valley,” he said, pointing to the area in between. Dense and varied green textures are broken up by gray stucco and ribbons of asphalt. Most of the plants were “chosen for no other reason than ‘what’s easiest and what’s most beautiful,'” he said.
For decades, lawn hegemony has weathered cycles of drought and rain.
“The new drought is a severe drought,” said Ellen Hannack, director of the Center for Water Policy at the California Institute of Public Policy.
California Governor Gavin Newsom last year urged residents to voluntarily cut back. said it will impose mandatory limits if it can’t ask people to save money. “This is a wake-up call,” said Metropolitan Water District general manager Adel Hagekaril when outlining new water restrictions in April. The Water Authority meets and exceeds conservation goals. Used by customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power 11% reduction in water usage It was higher last month than July 2021.
Recent research According to PPIC, 51% of Los Angeles residents say they and their families have done more to reduce water use, the highest number in the state. But 70% of Los Angeles residents say people aren’t doing enough yet.
In the region, landscapers specializing in drought-tolerant plants and artificial turf say they are rushing to keep up with demand. “It feels like Covid is similar to the novel coronavirus.
Brockovich was one of Katz’s customers who completely converted to synthetic turf. It looked and felt nothing like the older versions of artificial turf, and it had no disturbing colors.
Such a lawn does not need watering, but needs to be replaced about every 20 years, creating plastic waste. Its environmental costs are not covered by the MWD rebate program.
At Theodore Payne Foundation’s nursery, families watched rows of heavy-leaved milkweed, sage, herb and earthy scents in the heat.
Lorna Estrada, 50, and her daughter Siena Cochakji, 13, came from around Lake Balboa in the San Fernando Valley to do what Estrada calls “wind shopping.” Estrada, a fifth grade teacher, said she taught her students about drought and climate change. She said she would like to do her outdoor project with Sienna.
So after 15 years of considering the idea, she said, “I finally got rid of the lawn.”
In the near future, Mayer said he hopes the San Fernando Valley region will resemble the natural landscape that many Angelenos love to hike. Drought is catalyzing the transition, he added.
“A lawn is basically a big, sterile green carpet that takes a lot of water to maintain,” he said. “We advocate a future where urban spaces seamlessly blend with the natural environment.”