The generation of over-consumption

Last month I was mildly amused while entering our fair community of Oak Park. I was greeted by signage on the bulletin board that urged me to save water because every drop counted- a message from a district that continues to flood the streets and sidewalks on a nightly basis.

Now I see that we have chosen to continue the use of turf on the newly landscaped medians of Kanan Road. This comes at a time when we are being warned of water shortages and rationing. It is no secret that turf is the most costly landscape material to maintain. It requires high water, fertilizer, pesticide and fungicide applications. Its maintenance depletes fossil fuels while polluting the air with carbon dioxide and the aquifers with nitrate.

There should also be concern for the dangers in upkeep at this locale. The areas of Kanan Road that have been sodded are sloped to the street, making them hazardous to mow. Could we not find a safe, more sustainable waterefficient landscape material or are we looking at the most attractive, lowest cost installation?

I was told that the population of Oak Park would not accept a deviation in the continuality of the median design. Please tell me that the community is not that shallow. We should be saving the turf and the cost that it incurs for our parks and playfield, not the center divider that we race by at 45 mph on our way to work or to the market.

I am convinced that our generation will go down in history as the last of the big natural resource abusers. Changes may come from education and technology, but most likely the cost of our footprint on Earth will deplete resources for future generations to exploit. Dani Brusius Oak Park