It’s the return of the Golden Age – and with it, the underappreciated color yellow is getting more attention than ever before. Our standards are shifting along with the hues of California’s formerly verdant lawns as more and more people “go gold.”
And that’s great. We now look upon yellowed lawns – the same lawns that might have been the subjects of neighborhood scorn in the past – with approval, and label green lawns as pretentious and out-of-touch.
Public parks, neighborhoods, estates and schools alike have allowed their lawns to die trendy deaths. Nobody wants to be that one property with the obnoxiously green lawns, right?
Well apparently, we don’t mind. In August, the school laid down new sod in several of the decorative lawns – a bizarre decision in the midst of California’s drought. New sod must be soaked for weeks before it can be put on the regular watering cycle, making it an increasingly unpopular option among Californians looking to revamp their yards.
Now, we’re not arguing that replacing our lawns with new sod is the cause of California’s drought. Nor are we saying that the school is exceeding state water restrictions – in fact, our maintenance department has done an excellent job of making sure that our school stays within the limits.
However, the reason our grass has been replaced is that the administration believes that green grass is vital to the school’s image.
And we are saying that we disagree.
Many students say they’re disappointed and annoyed by the new grass. Comments such as “Why would they do that – aren’t we in a drought?” and “I don’t understand why we didn’t just keep the old grass” were nearly as common as “OMG, I haven’t seen you in forever!” on the first day of school.
While nobody can deny that new grass is beautiful, in a time of drought, it portrays SCDS in a negative light. Regardless of the numbers, regardless of how insignificant the extra water may have been, the fact is that a large percentage of people look at the grass and think it’s an enormous waste of water. They think that our school is ignoring the drought, that we’re being the stereotypical “rich kid school” that’s more concerned about our appearance than the environment.
One may argue it’s not about what people “think,” but it absolutely is. Why else would we plant new grass in the first place? If we’re so concerned about our school’s impression, we should be aware of the changing times and update our standards to what is currently smiled upon – which is pretty much everything except the lush green grass we’re presently flaunting.
