Thinking of a way to support the Earth this week? How about something that will benefit the Earth by doing less work and spending less money? You may think that your lawn represents a small effect on the environment; however, per a September 2008 article from the Carey Institute of Ecosystem Studies states “An estimated 80 percent of American households have a lawn; in aggregate, lawns would cover an area about the size of North Carolina.”
For controlling the height of our lawns, many of us use gas (or oil mix) mowers and trimmers. The People Powered Machines website uses statistics from the EPA stating that “Americans burn 800 million gallons of gas each year trimming their grassy yards” and that “a new gas powered lawn mower produces volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides emissions air pollution in one hour of operation as 11 new cars each being driven for one hour.” Electric mowers are a better environmental solution based on the source of electricity and the elimination of gas spills and energy utilized during oil refining and transportation.
The arguments for trimming the lawn are to have a usable space and to abide by the Homeowners Association rules; however, cutting the lawn too short damages the grass. A September 2019 article by The Spruce states “More leaf blade means more photosynthesis, which results in stronger, more prolific root and shoots growth. This, in turn, means the plant is better able to withstand stresses such as drought, insect infestation, and heat. Healthier individual turf plants lead to a denser lawn that will crowd out weeds. Healthier lawns also means less fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides (we end up working hard to fix our mistakes).
The use of herbicides can damage to plants, shrubs and trees in our yard and the runoff during a storm event puts those herbicides into our waterways. The definition of a weed is a wild plant growing where it is unwanted. The problem is that many of our yards have a low level of biological diversity that does not make sense. For example, both of my yards have areas of heavy shade and heavy sunlight. I would have to work hard to maintain my yard if I only had one variety of grass. Not only does my yard have multiple varieties, I have increased my tolerance for other vegetation to “invade” (note: there are many weeds that I will not tolerate). A great example of an invader that my family is thankful for is the Indian Strawberry. I had an area of my yard that was lacking grass from soil mold due to shade and water puddling. The Indian Strawberry took over and not only do the kids love to see (we don’t eat them) the tiny fruit, but we have an added nighttime bonus that the fireflies absolutely love living in the patch. A few years ago, I likely would have declared it a weed and toiled to remove it with manual labor or herbicide. Now, I am more tolerant of what decides to grown in my backyard, including not removing dandelion flowers for the bees, so that I can increase the diversity and improve the ecology in my yard.