Lawn wars are just starting. Soon you will be hearing shrieking above the roar of mowers. Shrieking because it has been found that lawns, as currently maintained, are dangerous and bad for the environment. So there is going to be a lot of pressure to eliminate, or at least alter, lawns, golf courses, and green public spaces.
We all love lawns. One theory about lawns is that humans evolving on the savannas of Africa survived because they could see their predators more easily than when they were living in trees. So lawns with a few trees here and there became innately pleasurable.
In many parts of the western world a well-manicured lawn is a status symbol, the larger the better. A front garden full of wildflowers and rocks can alarm neighbors. "What about property values? Who are these strange conservationists? They are not part of our tribe". Public parks are designed with vast grassy lawns to provide places to relax, walk dogs and picnic. Lawns are part of our culture, and many consider them a necessity. Removing lawns and grass strips could cause a rebellion.
So why are lawns such a threat? Why go to all the work and expense of maintaining lawns? Below are just a few of the dangers of our love affair with lawns.
1. The cost of water.
Lawns are the least productive crop we grow. Lawn irrigation consumes, on average, more than 8 billion gallons of water daily. In many areas of the U.S.A. more water is used for lawn irrigation than what can be replaced by rainfall, an unsustainable practice.
2. Toxic chemical spread.
According to Douglas Tallamy, “40%of the chemicals used by the lawn industry are banned in other countries because they are carcinogenic….75 studies have documented the connection between lawn pesticides and lymphoma”. And “pets and children are most at risk of contracting cancer because they spend a lot of time rolling around in the grass.” According to the Environmental Protection Agency 40-60% of lawn fertilizer ends up in surface and groundwater. contaminating drinking water."
3. Less oxygen
Growing green plants give off oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide. But lawns release only a fraction of the oxygen into the atmosphere than what would have been released by the original plants before the lawn was installed.
4. Loss of pollinators.
The chemicals put on lawns kill bees, butterflies and some birds.
5. Killing and squashing healthy soil.
All natural soils are a mixture of elements, millions of microorganisms, insects, worms, bugs and dead plant material like leaves. Smothered in manufactured chemicals the soil may become so depleted that the roots of plants cannot grow and sustain plant life. In other words many gardens and lawns which have been used to be grown with chemicals cannot manage without more chemicals! It takes time and patience for chemical- free soil to gradually recover from this onslaught. We need to restore natural balance. Smaller flowers and not-so-green lawns are the reality of the future.
What can you do to help reverse the situation and help our planet survive? Encourage governments, corporations and homeowners to reduce the size of their lawns, maybe by half. Stop them fertilizing and putting pesticides on lawns. Spreading chemicals unnaturally forces grass to green up in Spring, grow faster requiring more mowing, and selectively suppress all plants except grass. Without chemicals lawns will be slower growing, and wildflowers like clover spring up. This look may take some getting used to but it will be essential for our future.
More you can do: Encourage the practice of mowing short green pathways through the new, longer grass. Advocate for planting more trees in yards and public spaces, along with native shrubs, spring and summer bulbs and tough perennial flowering plants like iris and asters. The results may amaze you. Birds, bees and butterflies will return to forage and flutter. Small mammals may move in. Instead of a bleak view of green, the space will come alive with the creatures we have been killing off for 50 years.
Don’t sit on a lawn without a rug! Don’t let kids or pets play on lawns until they are chemical-free. The struggle to change a much-loved but toxic American habit will be difficult. But looked at as a revolution that has to happen to help survive climate change it becomes a thrilling challenge. Roy Dennis wrote, “Share the land with other living things. Land ownership is not just about privilege. It is about responsibility.”
I have quoted and gleaned information from Dennis W. Tellamy’s excellent book,
"Nature’s Best Hope. -A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard.”
Timber Press Inc., sixth printing 2021. ISBN 978-1-60469-900-5
http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=B4E9DF66EA8CFD2F624B93F78705F8F1