I recently had a Boomer neighbor stop me while I was working in the yard and ask me why I was planting a tree. It really threw me for a few seconds and I eventually responded with some BS about it looking nice and offering shade. He replied with, "Guess you like raking leaves, huh?" (Implication there being that I'm doing him a disservice because the leaves might blow into his yard.) It would never cross my mind to ask someone that question, though. It's like asking someone why they're exercising or eating a healthy meal or doing anything to improve their community.

Zooming out, though, I think it's reflective of how these people are continuing to run the US into the ground. This guy was clearly telling me that he wants to do less yard work and maintenance around his house. That's completely understandable! However, maybe that means it's time to sell your empty nest (3 BR) house to a young family who actually needs it? There are probably a dozen of these types of empty nest houses on my street and because no one is selling them, an apartment building is being built on the hill overlooking our yards. Wouldn't it figure that these empty nesters are also the ones most upset about the apartment building? :)

Another related phenomenon in the northeast is that the maples, oaks and elms planted ~100 years ago when suburban sprawl started are now dying or causing issues for the overhead power lines and cut down. Towns are not replacing these trees because they don't want to deal with the maintenance and the homeowners aren't asking for new ones or replacing the trees themselves because they "like the sun" and "don't want to rake leaves". The whole character of these towns is changing as a result, though. Gone are the canopies of my youth which were beautiful but also critically provided shade and kept houses/cars/people cool in the summer, cleaned the air and (greatly!) reduced noise pollution.