The Green No Deal

The most common consequence of new home ownership in my San Diego neighborhood is the obliteration of the green outdoor space. Perhaps the lawn is replaced with gravel, rocks, or sand. Shrubs and/or trees are chopped down, replaced by fence. The point: This is more typical occurrence than not, which strangely surprises.

For a community where liberal values reign and residents will rail about the dangers of fossil fuels escalating global warming, too little regard is given to the immense importance of grass, flowers, shrubs, and trees that temperate climate, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and increase supply of breathable oxygen. Killing these things that grow and replacing them with cement, gravel, stone, or sand that absorb heat surely contributes to the problem the Green New Deal crowd claims to be concerned about. Can you say contradictory behavior?

Being careful not to identify location, I present a property where grass and shrubs were removed but the majority of trees kept. The outdoor, ah, renovation is relatively benign when compared to other homes changing owners during the past two or three years. Elsewhere, trees would be cut down and backyard replaced with additional residences (typically two to four). Fence would be high rather than tastefully low, as you can see in the last shot.

I captured photos one and two before the home sold earlier this year. Vitals for the Featured Image, aperture manually set for all: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/640 sec, 28mm; 1:25 p.m. PDT; Oct. 5, 2021. Vitals, inflatable snowman: f/4. ISO 100, 1/1600 sec, 28mm; 2:46 p.m. PST; Dec. 2, 2021.

Number three shows the yard in transition. Because I inadvertently clicked the shutter as someone shut the blinds, this one is close-cropped out of respect for the person’s privacy. Vitals: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/160 sec, 28mm; 5:11 p.m.; July 29, 2022.

The last of the set brings us to October 20. Yep, this is the yard as seen six days ago. My apologies about the vantage, but the blinds were open and I didn’t want to again shoot the resident. But you can see well enough that the lawn is gone. That said, I praise the new homeowners for preserving much more of the original space than is typical; they saved the trees. Thank you. Vitals: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/640 sec, 28mm; 1:05 p.m.

I used Leica Q2 for all.