The Washington Post in a Wednesday story attacked the concept of lawns as problematic amid global warming.
Post-World War II, reporter Dan Zak writes, lawns started to signal "privilege" and "power." Now, though, "the planet has accelerated its revolt against us," leading to an "anti-lawn" movement that sees lawns as "waste," "disregard," and "zombie Boomerism."
The story comes as employees of Los Angeles's Department of Water and Power, nicknamed "the water police," patrol the streets to enforce city water restrictions, particularly on "lush, green lawns, maintained with automatic sprinklers," AFP reported.
Lawns are just the latest American tradition to be criticized in a left-wing paper. The Post in 2020 ran a piece that said the national anthem is racist because a little-heard verse criticizes slaves who fought for the British in the War of 1812. The Philadelphia Inquirer that same year ran a piece that said picnics are racist.
Zak admits that lawns will likely remain popular, writing, "You throw a football on them, you picnic on them, you lean and loaf on them." But activists say that young people are moving away from the concept of a lawn, with musician and activist Mel Bryant saying that "it's attached to a more old-school, boomer generation of the idea of what an American life is."