Environmental and Economic Impact of Lawns

With an understanding of how standard turfgrass lawns took over American culture and practice we can now introduce the environmental and economic impacts of lawns. There are tons and tons of resources, articles, videos, and research available for the public that supports the elimination of lawns and other areas that act as major misuses of land. So, what are the environmental and economic downfalls of monoculture lawns in urban areas? This post breaks everything down for you, easy to read, easy to connect, easy to share with others. 

Land

Laws take up 40 million acres of land in the United States, almost half as much land as we devote to the biggest crops, but unlike those crops lawns do not contribute in any positive way to economy or the food industry. This is land that we could be using to help pollinators and preserve native plants across the country. Lawns could act as mini personal nature reserves, pollinators gardens, or sustainable food sources. Instead they are taking up land and contributing to the rest of the negative environmental factors in this post. 

Water

Lawns consume as much as two thirds of the amount of water as ALL of the farmland in the United States. This equates to around 30-60 percent of drinkable water being poured onto lawns. This DRINKABLE water, meaning that it literally could be contributing to the lives of the people living the United States by providing them more of a substance that is necessary the sustain life. There are many areas in the United States that are in long-term drought or where the natural drinking water is extremely contaminated. The water being used on lawns could be redirected. The EPA WaterSense Research Report on Turfgrass Allowance gives an in-depth analysis and offers solutions on the use of water on turfgrass lawns. 

Gasoline

This is one of the most concerning environmental factors of monoculture lawns. To fuel the equipment that is used to maintain lawns it takes about 800 million gallons of gasoline every year, with an extra 17 million gallons spilled in the process. The equipment used to maintain lawns was found in a study to be responsible for 26.7 million TONS of pollutants in 2011. In 2017 the California Air Resources said that,

“By 2020, gas-powered leaf blowers, lawn mowers, and similar equipment in the state could produce more ozone pollution than all the millions of cars in California combined.”

All of this maintenance is costly. 47.8 to 82 BILLION dollars are spent on cutting lawns annually. None of these statistics should be convincing you to keep mowing your turfgrass lawn.

Pesticides

A recent facts and figures sheet from Beyond Pesticides in Washington DC discloses that 78 million households in the United States use home and garden pesticides. Suburban lawns receive more pesticides per acre than agriculture land that actually produces viable products. 13 of the 30 commonly used lawn pesticides are probable or possible carcinogens (cancer causing), 13 are linked to birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects, 15 with neurotoxicity, 27 with liver and kidney damage, and 11 are endocrine disruptors. Lawn pesticides have the potential to cause major problems in children, pets, and wildlife. These pesticides don't just cause problems while on the lawn. Out of those 30 pesticides 17 have been detected in groundwater and 23 have the potential to leach into waterways. This can impact drinking water and streams and lakes, causing damage to ecosystems and aquatic life.

Fertilizers

Homeowners use about 3 million tons of nitrogen based fertilizers on their lawns annually aiming for the green, lush lawn standard. For every ton of nitrogen created to produce the fertilizer, four to five tons of carbon are emitted into the atmosphere. To top it all off, standard lawns cannot even hold the amount of nitrogen being dumped on them, and instead nitrous oxide gas is produced. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas and has 300 time the heat trapping ability of carbon dioxide. This nitrogen can also run off into waterways, with 40 to 60 percent ending up in groundwater. Extreme weather often seen in climate change only increases these issues.

Injuries

On top of all of these issues with monoculture lawns, mower-related injuries are an added risk. 35 thousand people in the United States are treated annually for mower-related injuries. 4,800 of these are children, and 600 result in youth amputations. With the American Healthcare system under increasing scrutiny for its multitude of issues, these injuries can be incredibly costly.

Hopefully after reading this post you are filled with an urge to convert your lawn. But where should you start and what are the alternatives? The next post is Seven Alternatives to Standard Lawns and will explain and provide resources on the main theme of this blog, lawn alternatives.

Article Sources:

https://psci.princeton.edu/tips/2020/5/11/law-maintenance-and-climate-change

https://web.archive.org/web/20170603054706/https:/www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-01/documents/ws-outdoor-home-turfgrass-report.pdf

https://www.beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/documents/lawn/factsheets/LAWNFACTS&FIGURES_8_05.pdf

https://gizmodo.com/lawns-are-an-ecological-disaster-1826070720