You've got the right idea and I am all for it. My grass is back at my other house where I no longer live so it's not as sexy as it used to be, but still turns heads; it's getting bloody difficult to upkeep it though; time constraints. If I had 25 hours a day I'd still not get everything done that's required each day.
Your last paragraph...that's some scary shit but I'm not surprised. Progress doesn't come without cost and (unfortunately for humans) it's a cost we will all pay for a long time to come.