Want to save the planet?
Kill your lawn.
By Elizabeth Licata
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Photo from Doug Talamy’s Bringing Nature Home, Timber Press, 2007.
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By around 2040, we will have lost ninety-five percent of the native plants and animals of America, largely because of the amount of habitat that has been devoured by suburban lawns. The resulting collapse of our ecosystem that could result from this loss of biodiversity threatens our water, land, and ultimate survival.
Lawn mowers lack catalytic converters, so cutting the lawn with a power mower for an hour can provide the same emissions as driving 650 miles. Since mowers are used mostly during the hot summer months, when ground level ozone is the highest, they also cause problems for asthmatics or anyone with respiratory conditions.
Of the over 100 million pounds of pesticides used by homeowners on their yards each year, most are linked with cancer, birth defects, reproductive effects, and other health problems. Many are also toxic to birds, bees, and fish. (They also leach into groundwater.) They pose an immediate problem to children and pets.
Need more? There’s plenty, but rather than obsess over statistics and negativity, it might be better to forge ahead into more positive territory, like all the beautiful, fun alternatives to the typical American lawn. And some of them even involve grass. Last year, Spree writer Sara Baker Michalek outlined a few strategies to minimize the heavy carbon footprints and other environmental impacts of lawns. Here’s a continuation of that discussion:
1. OK, have a lawn, but use a mixed palette of native grasses. For our climate, recommendations include the fine-leaf fescues sold by such vendors as prairienursery.com. These lawns may take a while to establish, but they need less water and infrequent-to-no mowing. They’re also the best for our region, according to gardening message boards and blogs. Regardless of the kind of lawn you have, don’t use chemicals, water less, and use an electric or manual mower. Try to accept the lawn going brown in late summer. Visit safelawns.org for more information on sustainable lawns.
2. Try a mix of perennials, perennial ground covers, and shrubs instead. For sunny positions, ornamental grasses require little water and look terrific, and there are many easily maintained groundcovers: sweet woodruff (asperula odorata), golden star (chrysogonum), cranesbill (a wide range of geranium varieties), lamium (great foliage in many colors), creeping jenny (lysimachia), creeping sedum, and creeping thyme. Almost any perennial is far less trouble than a lawn, while shrubs provide bird habitat and more sculptural variety to your landscape.
3. Grow a vegetable garden in your front yard. This somewhat radical alternative might nonetheless be the greenest thing to do of all. Believe it or not, this trend is becoming more and more popular across America, so much so that there’s a new term for the people who will install your veggie garden for you: foodscapers. There is no need for mowing or chemicals, and you’re decreasing your footprint by eating vegetables grown on your own property rather than those shipped to your supermarket from California, Florida, or Mexico. The vegetable season is a long one, starting with spring lettuces and ending with winter squash, and it’s a great family activity. A vegetable garden can look just as beautiful as a flower garden, too. It just requires some thoughtful design and attractive support systems for those plants that need it.
To learn more on how alternatives to lawns can work, consult Doug Tallamy’s Bringing Nature Home (Timber) and the excellent Easy Lawns, by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (bbg.org).
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