Fuelish Indiana

Lacking geographic constraints to urban sprawl, Indianapolis has concentric rings of growth and decay, and the entire state is a patchwork of sprawling development built on the presumption of never-ending cheap fuel and empty frontier landscape. As GW refers to it "our way of life." Though the war is not really talked about, or talked about in the grandiose "spreading democracy" and "stay the course" and "fighting terrorism" terms, I think there is a growing underlying awareness of people's children dying over oil to provide this "way of life."

The new awareness to me, which is really an old awareness re-awakened, is the sprawling expanse of wonderful green lawns. Neighborhoods, without fences, like sprawling golf courses, miles and miles of luscious green, all kept in order by armies of riding lawnmowers consuming... more fuel.

Some academic environmentalist "professional worriers," are concerned about us diverting crops from animal feed to produce methane and biodiesel. These people have obviously not gazed upon the endless miles of green lawns, many of them kept immaculate by chemical means. The herbivore in me was salivating at the prospect of munching on that giant salad bowl, and the practical scientist in me was itching to breed a "lawn cow" the size of a sheep or chicken. We like eating chicken, but chickens don't eat much grass.