@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard Well, distant is one thing.
I think part of the difference of opinion on this issue relates to the evolution of the typical American neighborhood. My neighborhood was built in the 1920’s and 1930’s. It is a streetcar suburb, built at the end of a streetcar line, with long blocks and houses very close together. Most of the yard is toward the back, a little less toward the front, and virtually none to the sides of the house. I do not have central air conditioning. Prior to WWII most American neighborhoods were like this. Even after WWII most neighborhoods had fairly small lots. Newly built neighborhoods, especially from the 70s on, have bigger and bigger lot sizes, and almost all new homes are built with central air.
If you live in a house that with a large yard, you need bigger equipment to mow that yard, and when your neighbors house with a similar sized yard is mowed, most of the time the equipment is pretty far from your house. Meanwhile your windows are all closed and your air conditioner is running to keep the house cool.
In my neighborhood there is no earthly reason for anything more than a push or walk behind mower and an electric weed eater to maintain a yard. But the lawn companies already have this expensive equipment, including a zero turn radius riding mower that can finish a yard quickly, but unfortunately creates a lot of mess that has to be cleaned up with the gas powered blowers. Meanwhile, they are always within fifty feet or so of my house, which has its windows open to keep it relatively cool, and so all the pollution, dust, and noise come right into my living room. There I sit on the couch and at times the gas powered lawn equipment is no more than twenty feet from me while I try to read a book, take a nap on the couch, or watch TV while the baby naps upstairs, also with the window open and only another twenty feet from the equipment.
So basically, since I don’t have central air and a third to an acre of land, I just have to suck it up and suffer for not being more conventional.