The friendly lawn

Scientific American => Landscape Influences Human Social Interaction

I’ve lived in Arizona all my life, and for most of my life I’ve lived in homes built in the 1940’s. In that era, and well into the 70’s, we (the state in general) lived a fantasy world where people could bring the midwest or east to Arizona, and so all the homes of that era have non-native trees and lawns.

Considering that we have no actual water here, those things are really parasites.

Since I purchased my current home in 1990, I’ve made a darned good effort at killing the lawn – although I refuse to kill the big trees.

Now, according to this article, it turns out that my “native” front yard is why I don’t socialize with my neighbors. Who’d have thought? I just thought I was anti-social.

Technorati Tags: ,