Yes, much of the media is, and when it's bothered to be labeled as opinion it is definitely opinion.
I find much NYTimes Opinion to be distasteful, cringeworthy, divisive, propaganda, and even inciting, but it seems a fairly reasonable opinion that unnecessary poison use is bad.
Do have the opinion that poison on a lawn is good?
I don't consider maintaining or not maintaining a yard to be romantic, it's more of a chore. Gardening is a rewarding activity, but it's also not particularly romantic, it's what humans did for thousands of years to get food.
If I let my yard grow wild then I quickly have a large variety of wildflowers, interesting plants, and mixed wildlife in my yard.
Once an environment has been altered or landscaped in anyway, it requires what is considered neglect (and/or a lot of work) to get it back to a natural state. For most people with any sort of ever manicured yard, it's simpler to mow. Otherwise by modern standards it can be unsightly, is mostly socially unacceptable, considered bad for property values, etc, and it can also minimize the human use of a field.
I get both, for what it's worth. Plenty of crabgrass later in the season, but abundant clover, wild strawberries, wild violets, and little tiny blue pansy things that I don't know the name of earlier. Bees everywhere!
It may start off that way, but after a few years, that crabgrass may decline or die off entirely due to competition from native species. Around these parts, if you let the local squirrels have at it, you may wind up with a forest instead!
This year I overseeded with a mix of ryegrass and clover, will keep my lawn mowed at 2 inches and watered. I hope the clover can bloom at that height and make the bees happy. It should look fine if I keep it at 2 inches every couple of weeks.
You don't always have the option to opt out of an HOA, especially when buying a home. If the neighborhood said home is in, and has an HOA, you're usually grandfathered in.
it’s not a luxury, dude, i rent because that’s all i can afford.
if i owned land and some gang of dolores umbridge wannabes still got to shove me around i’d grind my teeth to dust. It’s insufferable enough to have my landlord give me crap for vacuuming my car out in my parking space, i’d go absolutely nuts if i has all the rights of ownership and still couldn’t do perfectly reasonable things on my front lawn.
That's...exactly what they just said. You claimed not having an HOA is a luxury, they claimed exactly the opposite (because HOA's are generally in wealthier neighborhoods, the people who can generally afford to be pickier).
In the US, TSCA 1974 grandfathered in thousands of chemicals with zero proof of safety and no studies. I think Ralph Nader needs to hit this point every now and then to remind people that American chemicals are ridiculously under-regulated compared to Scandinavian and other Western countries. And if you're still using RoundUp, switch to table salt.. it will kill most plants but not kill you.
Killing weeds with salt is a terrible idea unless you want no plants at all to grow in your yard. And probably still a bad idea even then because there is no easy way to take the salt back out of soil.
I remember when I was 8, 10, 14. In the late 80's and early 90's. In the evening and night, bugs were everywhere if you drove. They were thick, like a fog all to its own. You needed windshield wiper fluid at minimum, and you'd have a hood-bug-stopper.
These days, I drive and drive and drive. And what do I not see? I don't see the clouds of bugs everywhere. I rarely have to use windshield wiper fluid - the majority was for bugs that just aren't there now.
I'm already feeling the life changes of climate change, and I'm in Indiana. It's no sealevel change, but its the very life; the bugs, the birds, the mammals, and plants that grow. I'm sure farmers feel it more, but given politics, it seems the farmers are against the idea of climate change - as it's some sort of democrat talking point... But we can just add more fertilizer.
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[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 87.3 ms ] threadI find much NYTimes Opinion to be distasteful, cringeworthy, divisive, propaganda, and even inciting, but it seems a fairly reasonable opinion that unnecessary poison use is bad.
Do have the opinion that poison on a lawn is good?
If I let my yard grow wild then I quickly have a large variety of wildflowers, interesting plants, and mixed wildlife in my yard.
Once an environment has been altered or landscaped in anyway, it requires what is considered neglect (and/or a lot of work) to get it back to a natural state. For most people with any sort of ever manicured yard, it's simpler to mow. Otherwise by modern standards it can be unsightly, is mostly socially unacceptable, considered bad for property values, etc, and it can also minimize the human use of a field.
Past July though it looks pretty shitty.
Because if my lawn has any random wildflowers the HOA will send a letter and a fine if it isn't fixed within 5 days.
Just the idea of HOAs drive me absolutely insane, even moreso when they perpetuate ecological insanity in the name of looking "pretty".
if i owned land and some gang of dolores umbridge wannabes still got to shove me around i’d grind my teeth to dust. It’s insufferable enough to have my landlord give me crap for vacuuming my car out in my parking space, i’d go absolutely nuts if i has all the rights of ownership and still couldn’t do perfectly reasonable things on my front lawn.
Why did you not flatly refuse to buy into that particular form of idiocy?
unlike owners, though, i can just move out if i want to in a few months.
I remember when I was 8, 10, 14. In the late 80's and early 90's. In the evening and night, bugs were everywhere if you drove. They were thick, like a fog all to its own. You needed windshield wiper fluid at minimum, and you'd have a hood-bug-stopper.
These days, I drive and drive and drive. And what do I not see? I don't see the clouds of bugs everywhere. I rarely have to use windshield wiper fluid - the majority was for bugs that just aren't there now.
I'm already feeling the life changes of climate change, and I'm in Indiana. It's no sealevel change, but its the very life; the bugs, the birds, the mammals, and plants that grow. I'm sure farmers feel it more, but given politics, it seems the farmers are against the idea of climate change - as it's some sort of democrat talking point... But we can just add more fertilizer.
Here in West Australia we get these bastards in our lawn https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/declared-plants/doublegee-pest
Natures Caltrops. and let me tell you, they're strong enough to pop a tyre on a pushbike.