Agreed. I've heard manicured lawns described as deserts but that that is actually not fair to deserts, the implication being that deserts are a healthier ecosystem than manicured lawns.

I still have a lawn in the front and back covering parts of the property. I did plant non-native grass last fall. I'm not sure I'm happy about that from an ideal standpoint, but I chose grass that is very drought resistant and needs basically no maintenance and looks fine when allowed to grow taller. I mixed in some mini-clover, which is also non-native, but it's a new species that is supposed to make the grass even more drought tolerant, provides natural fertilization, and supports pollinators. We'll see how it goes. I also plan to not mow as much, although last year with the drought, I barely mowed at all. I don't use chemical fertilizers and used only natural fertilizers. I have heard this approach described as feeding the soil and not feeding the grass. One of the fertilizers I used showed some fungus growing on the grass, which I was happy about.

I hope to keep evolving things and reclaiming parts of the lawn that we never use or want. It's nice as you reclaim it with plants and trees, because it's decreasing maintenance burden.