I’m one of them. Been converting entire chunks of an otherwise bland, uninteresting lawn to pollinator friendly patches. We have a certified milkweed garden for monarchs, entire sections full of drought-tolerant native plants, and rabbits have started living underneath the “canopy” of the flowering shrubs. The half of our lawn that’s still grass is easily 10x the maintenance burden that our gardens are, and we’ve already developed a plan to phase out our front lawn entirely. Some of the grass in the back is good for picnics and dog play, but we’re going to get rid of anything that’s not actually used. Only problem is most of it’s bermuda, which is a fucking PAIN to get rid of by hand.
How it started when we first dug up the grass, and how it’s going. We didn’t realize butterfly bushes were bad when we first started, so we’re killing them off one-by-one. The first dead one is in the background (tall bare twigs), and the dwarf BB is keeping our nectar supply up while most of the other plants have stopped flowering for the summer. It’s still very much a work in progress, but it’s starting to stabilize with some of the plants being more resilient than others.
Been focusing on this and another small patch for about 2 years. The up front work was a bear, just to get rid of the grass down to the root (those fuckers are DEEP) and get all the plants established during the right seasons. I’ve also installed a drip irrigation system that can compensate for some of our really dry periods during summer, which took a full weekend. Once the plants are in and mulch is down, really the only maintenance is keeping bermuda and sedge from popping back up. The first year required extensive weeding every month or two, but the second year has required very little because most of the soil is totally shaded out. It kinda supports itself now. My only problem at this stage is that the liriope border was pre-existing, so bermuda still spills out from existing root stock from that area, which means I have to more aggressively weed/trim that border. I benefit from the walkway being a natural barrier for encroachment from the rest of the lawn, but it’ll still take another year or two before the bermuda is totally neutralized.
Only problem is most of it’s bermuda, which is a fucking PAIN to get rid of by hand
Get yourself an Action Hoe, you basically run it back and forth and it digs/cuts the roots out. It’s very upsetting how easy it makes weeding the first time you use it, turns an hour long job to something you can do in 15 min.
Adults living in Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach – “the Beach Cities” – in Los Angeles County are estimated to save $182.4 million on healthcare costs each year thanks to lower rates of obesity, diabetes and smoking there.
This is very revealing. But the reporting that follows is startling - emphasis in bold is mine:
Gallup estimates Beach Cities residents spend $95.3 million more on healthcare each year because of obesity, diabetes and smoking than what would be expected if all residents were of normal weight, did not have diabetes and did not smoke. By comparison, the estimated extra expenditures for the Beach Cities would nearly triple, jumping to $277.7 million annually, if these indicators mirrored the national rates; so for residents of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach, their collective high level of wellbeing represents $182.4 million in healthcare cost savings.
More money spent on healthcare ends up saving costs. Imagine that!
It sounds like maintaining good health is… beneficial on so many levels. Maybe sound healthcare policies should be adopted everywhere in the USA.
We’re also talking about rich people who can do things like hire personal trainers.
Median household income in Manhattan Beach is $187,217 and that includes all the people doing things like renting the rich people’s guest houses in the back of their mansion. Which is a big thing in L.A.
The money going in is what’s important to note. By paying for health up front, by putting in the time and money, people will pay less for a better quality of life in the long run. This happened in a rich region because it’s one of the only places that could escape the crushing chronic economy over a broad population. But the ultimate point is that communities can save literally tens of thousands per person by paying hundreds.
Right wing randos from the middle of nowhere, I get why they get pulled down the rabbit hole.
Elon Musk, is a hyper online nerd and he is constantly surrounded by yes men. I get why he got pulled down the rabbit hole.
Donald Trump is a Fox News grandpa who surrounds himself with the hard right because they support him unconditionally. I get why he got pulled down the rabbit hole.
But JD Vance is arguably the furthest down the rabbit hole of all of them, and I don’t get why.
Theoretically he’s the senator for a whole state who voted for Obama twice. His day job is in the Democrat-controlled Senate, if he wants to get anything done he needs to work with Democrats. How is he such a true believer in this stuff?!?
Vance used to be more of a center left guy until he got into politics to grift his way to VP. Read anything about him and you can easily see who he is pandering to.
Or have education about how much piss goes everywhere when you pee. In Germany most men sit to pee most of the time, it is a cultural issue and can be changed. That said, if you do urinals, make them stalls too, I don’t want to chat with my pee neighbour.
How did I know you are going to point that out. So smart.
Here is the part of the comment above you, that you disagreed with:
In Germany most men sit to pee most of the time.
Emphasis in bold courtesy of mine to help with reading comprehension to what comes next, namely the quote from the link I gave you:
Of all 13 countries, Germany was the one where most men sat down “every time” to urinate (40%). Add those who do so “most times” (22%), and you get the result shown on the map.
Urinals can be spaced more closely than regular toilets. Only problem is that women (or anyone with female-appearing anatomy) don’t have a nice way of using them.
All this moral panic about gendered bathrooms had been debunked ages ago. The TERF propaganda machine just kept throwing more and more fearmongering our way. It is good to hear that some countries take steps against this neo-segregation insanity.
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