Well I have started my weekly ritual - mowing the lawn. I have had different feelings about mowing the lawn over the years - from 'not again' to 'it's nice to be outside for a little relaxing time'. The start of my weekly ritual was coincidental with an article I recently read. The article was on whether your yard is carbon neutral.
The debate goes back to whether having grass or having a bed/garden is environmentally better. Don't people say that gras takes more time to maintain than plants or a garden?
Let's think about it in another way.
Which contributes less towards global warming - grass or garden/plant bed?
Is having grass actually a carbon sink?
To maintain a typical lawn, you have to do the following:
- Mow it weekly.
- Fertilize it 2-3 times per year.
- Trim or 'weed whack' weekly.
- Dethatch, aerate, and overseed which may be done with a gas-powered unit.
- Blow leaves in the fall.
- Water
- Apply herbicides for weed control
With the mowing, trimming and watering, along with the energy it takes to produce the fertilizer and herbicides, it is easy to conceive that having grass may not actually prove to be a carbon sink. With the energy use or carbon dioxide produced in taking care of the lawn, it may be more than the actual grass uses for photosynthesis.
How can you minimize your lawn care foot print:
- Use a manual, 'old fashioned' mower
- Keep grass length at about 4 inches - reduces water needs and chokes out weeds
- Use organic fertilizers that minimize nitrogen content
- Manually rake leaves, spread organic fertilizer and overseed with rotary or drop-spreader, manually dethatch and aerate
- Increase your garden size or bed sizes with native plants
- Pull weeds manually or let some of them grow
- If the older generations did things manually then we can too
To maintain a bed/garden:
- Plant a plant - locally grown food will save transport costs of shipping tomatoes from across the country native species of woody plants can be a carbon sink and be abel to handle local weather conditions.
- Mulch - save on watering and decrease weeds, lessening the need for herbicides.
- Perhaps fertilize and water (depending on the plant) - use organic fertilizers or soil mixes to promote plant growth.
- Clean the beds - use manual rakes to minimize the use of trimmers and blowers.
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Wow! This was a surprise to read in a blog on the impact of technology! So is there a technological solution to your lawn? Or is this a problem that has no technological solution. In fact, technology use of bulldozers to change land, factories to produce fertilizers and herbicides, and fossil-fuel transport to get everything we want for a perfect looking lawn to us that has created a very carbon-intensive way to have something green around us!
ReplyDeleteThe technnology that we either use (lawn mowers, trimmers) or apply (fertilizer, weed killiers, water) have their roots in technology. The solutions either had to be engineered or an advancement made to make our yards "better". The processes behind the making of fertilizer is the result of a technology advancement from just using recycled manure or other organic product. Each of these technologies have a definite impact. We can choose ways to mitigate our impact from these technologies.
ReplyDeleteSo in thinking about the LIFECYCLE of the products you use to keep a perfect lawn --
Is your yard actually CARBON NEUTRAL???
This past weekend I took part in the EPA's Sustainable Building EXPO. We had a bunch of people stop by to discuss our project and how we were educating the public with our website (www.umuc.edu/gogreen/). I talked with a bunch of people about the topic from this blog (carbon neutral yards). Most understood the impact of lawn mowers, trimmers, and other lawn tools. Once I planted the thought about the fabrication of pesticides and herbicides/pesticides and how they contribute to carbon footprint, most were able to see the problem.
ReplyDeleteThere was one issue that really surprised people though - the end of the fertilizer/pesticide lifecycle. In a word
RUNOFF
While we continue to want the "greenest" lawn possible, there is a hidden danger that most do not seem to realize. Excess fertilizer and pesticides (as well as gas and oil spills from our lawn tools) are carried away by rain water. Great to clean things up right?
ABSOLUTELY WRONG.
Stop to think about where that runoff goes: storm sewers or directly into rivers, streams, etc (made worse by clearing tres and vegetation near waterways which serve to naturally abate the problems of runoff and erosion).
The excessive nutrients and chemicals in runoff serve to destroy aquatic ecosystems. We see the direct result here in Maryland with the pollution of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. So what do we individuals have to do with runoff? General runoff from non-point sources is the greatest percentage of total runoff to which we each contribute. So that fertilizer and pesticides you put down - some of it will end up into your local waterways.
So the next time you decide to put down fertilizer or weed killer, see if there is an alternative natural or organic solution to your needs or think about ways to catch your runoff maybe with a garden to supplant your grass.
So I think you answered your own question about whether your lawn is carbon neutral: If your lawn is made up of grass that has to be mowed and fertilized, it is not carbon neutral.
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