Mowing isn’t the issue; Raking leaves is. Fireflies lay eggs in the fall, on dead leaves. Since suburban HOAs require leaves to be raked and trashed, it removes the fireflies’ breeding grounds. If you don’t like leaves on your lawn, just fucking mulch them with your lawn mower instead of raking them. A perfectly raked yard is an ecological wasteland.

I think a lot more people use weed killers and other pesticides in their yards than previously as well, since they're more commercially available. We even have "summer weed maintenance subscriptions" in my city for this (yeah, I know, ugh). I finally stopped using that stuff on my yard and I have a lot more critters in it than my neighbours.