Sometimes you've got to fix what is broken. We've had an amazing year of rain which began last Fall and has lasted until about a week ago. It is time to turn on the sprinklers to keep the lawn healthy and green. Yesterday, we ran a test on our yard system and found that one emitter near the driveway was a gushing fountain rather than a nice, pop-up spray as it was supposed to be.
Since I seem to have spent a large amount of my life working on irrigation systems of one kind or another, and being frugal, I dug it up and found the break. It seems one of us managed to get an automobile wheel off of the driveway and run over the sprinkler. With the damp soil, the weight apparently caused the tire to sink in deep enough that it snapped the line at the "T" beneath the sprinkler. It will be a fairly easy fix, but takes time.
It's a good thing we tested the system before merely setting it and letting it run. We operate our sprinklers late in the evening, after dark, to reduce evaporation. We don't worry much about fungus on the lawn since the humidity is so extremely high most of the time that the grass is usually wet from dew anyway. The test revealed the break, allowing me to repair it rather than to find all of the water from that section had flooded the driveway.
Why do we water our lawns? Lawns are quite a drain on water resources. Restrictions on watering lawns are one of the first things cities do in times of shortage. I suppose we just crave the green space and are willing to expend the resources for our small piece of "nature." As I think about it though, I believe there is more to the story.
I am not a meteorologist, but I have always been intrigued by the subject. Yesterday, I watched a brief video of radar showing the outflow boundary of a pop-up thunderstorm over Lubbock, Texas. The storm released its energy when almost exactly over the geographic center of the city. Think about that for just a minute.
Cities are a complex of asphalt, concrete, rooftops and other surfaces that affect reflectivity. If you don't believe me, take off your shoes and socks and walk on a street in August, then hop on those blistered soles to the sidewalk before tumbling onto the grass that is hopefully growing in a narrow band to the side. Wow! The grass is cool!
Urban development affects local weather. I suspect the heat over Lubbock caused the thunderstorm to blossom through any strata that was capping its energy causing it to release the rain. The cooling effect of that release created the visible outflow boundary seen on radar. Sometimes that isn't the case. Frequently, those heat domes over cities will cause clouds to "slide" around them and release their moisture over other areas. The heat creates a barrier.
Now, to jump back to lawns. I believe we need more "green space" in our cities. We need lawns and parks and other areas covered with trees and water that help to mitigate the effects of the man made structures. We also need to re-think how we build so that we change the heating effects -- perhaps with different materials. We also might consider how to capture that heat when needed -- such as in the winter.
Maybe, the way we build cities is broken -- just like my lawn-watering system.
There is another piece to the puzzle that has to be considered. It is well-documented that particulate matter in the atmosphere also affects reflectivity and therefore, heating of the air. With the concentration of automobiles in cities, the exhaust adds to the heat-building effect of summer sunshine by helping to trap it rather than allowing the energy to be reflected into space. As much as we hate giving up the independence of operating our own automobile, in the city environment, some form of public mass transportation is needed to reduce emissions -- it will improve the air quality as it changes the heat-trapping effect.
City dwellers often point to agricultural practices as the source of a warming climate. They outnumber those in agriculture -- especially in highly developed countries. The power of their voice and their vote is difficult to counteract, but they -- just like all of us -- need to look in the mirror before pointing fingers when it comes to "climate change."
We don't need to eliminate animal agriculture, or stop farming the Midwest and turn it back into a buffalo prairie, we need to figure out better ways to build highways and parking lots and skyscrapers and how to move people to-and-from their work without filling the roadways with automobiles. It doesn't work so well out in the country where food is produced and people are spread over wide areas, but where people are concentrated into urban and suburban megalopolises, much could be changed that would make a difference.
Maybe what we need are strips of grass instead of sidewalks and gardens on the roof of every high-rise building. Vertical greenhouses could be mounted to the sides of those same buildings. High-speed trains might move people through green spaces of tree-lined spokes and concentric circles. Sigh, I suppose I'm dreaming, but dreams are the stimulus for creativity.
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