Ever wonder why reporting on environmental issues seems so nonsensical?

If the caption accompanying the below photo in our newspaper is any indication, it is because journalists reporting on environmental issues are wearing a pemanent pair of beer goggles, finding beauty where there is none.  Here’s what the paper called “a meandering arroyo and a sustainable landscape of flowering, drought-tolerant native or Mediterranean plants”:

If that looks to you like a couple of scattered shrubs on a giant dirt lot (and a giant mud pit after the next hard rain), you’re not alone.

And what’s with the size of that back yard? The owner of the yard said “We wanted to teach our children about sustainable living and self sufficiency.” So why is her backyard alone triple the size of my entire lot? Most California environmentalists would advocate at least one or two dozen families of four living in that space in some kind of “smart development.” Evidently, mudpits are permissible sprawl.