This has been true since the inception of suburbia in Levittown and still keeping up with the Joneses seems to entail having luscious green turf.

However, this summer, I dare you to let go of your lawn. If you can get over not being the most popular resident on the block, then you'll find there are many reasons why going natural is better than cultivating a monotonous, monoculture yard.

Natural yards do not require intense maintenance like mowing, watering and fertilizing. Typical management practices that are used to maintain lawns are not environmentally friendly and detract from time that could be spent lounging by the pool. For instance, mowing the lawn with a gasoline-powered lawn mower for one hour will produce the same amount of smog-forming pollution in an hour as an average car does in the course of 200 miles, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Lawns are also at odds with water conservation efforts because, as any local resident knows, the only way to get green grass in the summertime is with the help of a sprinkler. This is of particular concern to the town of Cary if it wants to have the potable water supply to support the current pace of growth and development in the coming years.

In fact, in an effort to reduce the amount of water-hogging lawns, the town of Cary implemented the Turf Buy Back program a few years ago. The program provides a monetary incentive for replacing turf that requires heavy irrigation with either a drought tolerant grass or a natural area. This is certainly something to consider applying for if you decide to let your lawn go this summer, but beware, the program comes with a lot of small print.

The use of chemical fertilizers on home lawns is also a significant environmental concern. These nutrients will not only make your grass grow, it will promote toxic algal blooms in rivers, streams and lakes. Moreover, nitrate from chemical fertilizers readily leach from soil into ground water and can pose a threat to human health in high concentrations.

Do lawns even look beautiful? Certainly centuries ago a tidy green lawn was a symbol of wealth and status and thus attractive. Then, it was necessary to maintain it with scythes and the lawn lavishly occupied potentially arable land.

Now, however, a lawn is a staple of the middle class that requires relatively little monetary input. Lawns have lost their mystique, whereas natural areas have regained their mystique in the course of this age of industry.

Once natural, yards can foster native flora and fauna and contribute to preserving local biodiversity. Moreover, natural vegetation in your yard will likely provide valuable ecosystem services to your property such as flood, erosion and temperature control.

So start the trend and the rest of the neighborhood will come.