Down with grass!

I've had this discussion with quite a few people, sometimes to enthusiastic nods of approval and sometimes to stares of incomprehension. You see - I'm not a big fan of grass. I'm referring to sod, the green stuff we have become accustomed to adorning our yards with no matter where we live and no matter what the climate or water situation.

We've gotten used to planting grass in our yards all over the world (but especially in North America) for generations and I think it has outgrown (pardon the pun) its effectiveness. Calgary, where I live, is a prime example of a place where grass could and should become a thing of the past. Think about it. It requires regular watering. We do not have an unlimited supply of water. In fact Calgary is predicted as being a place that is going to run out of enough water to go around sooner than later and grass is one area where we could save a lot of water if we just stopped relying on it. Think of all the time spent watering, cutting, weeding, raking, aerating and otherwise maintaining this useless crop for what? So you can look at a patch of pretty green every time you come home? What percentage of home-owners actually use their lawns? Wouldn't it make much more sense to landscape with Xeriscaping, where indigenous plants are used to blanket our yards with a beautiful variety of hardy flora that requires little to no maintenance and watering? I'm not saying having patches of grass for kids to play on (assuming that's the optimum solution) should be entirely eliminated, but isn't it time to re-think the necessity of our lawns?