The Link Between Lawns and Climate Change
A whole culture has been created around lawn care and maintenance. But where did lawns originate and what purpose do they serve?
The reality is that lawns are doing much more harm than good. They’re causing serious damage not only to our environment and climate but to human health.
The History – Where Did Lawns Come From?
Lawns can be traced back to the colonization of the USA. There are no pasture grasses that are native to North America. Pre-colonization, the ground cover plants in most of what is now the United States were shorter-lived and less dense grasses like wild rye or types of sedges, and herbaceous low growing perennials like wild ginger or wild strawberry.
Wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) - native to US & Canada
European settlers were disappointed with these plants because they didn’t provide enough nutrition for their livestock. So they brought over pasture grasses like bluegrass and Bermuda grass.
That’s right – Kentucky bluegrass is from Europe. Kentucky has become known as the “Bluegrass State” because bluegrass is used for KY’s abundant horse pastures.
But the modern concept of the American lawn didn’t exist until the 1870s. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted is most famous for designing Central Park in New York City, but he also created the first lawns in the US.
Olmsted was commissioned to design one of the first suburban communities in America – Riverside, IL, outside of Chicago. He drew inspiration from English manors which had large courtyards with closely trimmed pasture grasses that allowed for entertaining guests outside.
The idea played off of the American Dream by emulating the upper-class in England, suggesting that anyone can become wealthy in the US.
Clumber House Manor in Nottinghamshire, England
Lawn Culture & Policy
Since the design of Riverside, IL, lawns have become the social norm with an entire culture built around them.
Many Americans seek the clean aesthetic of the lawn to prove to their neighbors that they’re not poor, and to have a place to play ball with their 2.5 kids and dog.
These societal expectations have turned into policy. Many places in America have ordinances and policies that require homeowners to have lawns.
In my city (Covington, KY), you can be fined $100 a day if the turf grass in your yard is too long. To file an appeal costs $50 and you waive your right to an appeal if you don’t file it within 7 days.
This is a huge accessibility issue for people who are disabled and can’t mow their lawn and/or people without the money to purchase lawn care equipment or hire someone. These folks likely also don’t have the $50 and other necessary resources to file an appeal.
The following is an actual citation I received:
So Why Are Lawns a Problem?
Water Pollution & Human Health
Keeping a bright green lawn that’s free from “weeds” or anything other than turf grass requires chemical sprays like herbicides, insecticides, and fertilizers.
When it rains, these chemicals run off into our sewers and local bodies of water. They are difficult to remove through standard water sanitation practices.
This means that most likely, you’re drinking these chemicals when you drink tap water and exposing yourself to them when you shower or wash your hands.
“Homeowners spend billions of dollars and typically use 10 times the amount of pesticide and fertilizers per acre on their lawns as farmers do on crops.” – Columbia University
Herbicides and insecticides like RoundUp can cause cancer and birth defects simply from exposure. Tens of thousands of cancer cases have been traced to the usage of these chemicals.
The CDC’s website states “Exposure to pesticides could increase your chances of having a miscarriage, a baby with birth defects, or other problems. Some pesticides also may be able to pass into breast milk.”
Water pollution caused by runoff means that all of us are exposed to these risks whether we choose to use chemicals on our lawns or not.
Water Usage
Speaking of water, lawns require an enormous amount of fresh water to be kept alive and green. Turfgrasses have shallow roots which means they need more water than native plants. It’s ridiculous to think we plant these thirsty grasses in places like Arizona that don’t receive much rainfall.
30-60% of fresh water in urban areas is used on lawns. Due to poorly placed watering devices like sprinklers, much of it goes to waste by landing on surfaces like sidewalks and roads. (Source: Columbia University)
In a world where fresh water is becoming increasingly harder to come by, using up to 60% of it for something purely aesthetic is unacceptable.
Land Usage
As of 2014, 128,000 sq km (or 79,535 sq miles) of land was used solely for lawns. (Source: Schindler, 2014) That is approximately the size of the entire state of Minnesota, the 14th largest state by land in America. And as of 2009, 23% of urban land was reserved for lawns with 155,250 hectares (or about 600 sq miles) of land being converted to lawns each year. (Source: Robbins & Sharp, 2009)
Lawns take up land in the US equivalent to the size of Minnesota. Image: Minnesota in the US by TUBS
This is an enormous amount of land that is being used for nothing but appeasing societal expectations and looking “pretty.” Many of the lawn policies around the country prohibit homeowners from planting native or food plants in their yards.
This means areas that could be growing food cheaply, safely, and accessibly are legally not allowed to be used for this.
These laws also deter the growth of native plants that combat climate change and help many declining but crucial species of insects, birds, and small mammals.
As a matter of fact, lawns are the largest crop in the United States, surpassing corn.
The chemicals used on lawns combined with the erosion that can happen from them results in damaged soil. It means that to safely grow food in these areas, lots of remediation will need to be done to the soil.
Climate Change & Habitat Loss
Lawns have a direct impact on the climate crisis. Lawnmowers and other gas-powered machinery used for maintenance emit Co2 – a greenhouse gas that has been linked directly to climate change. The process of making nitrate fertilizers also emits a large amount of greenhouse gases.
Plants are supposed to absorb these dangerous gases, but turfgrass doesn’t even begin to compare to the carbon sequestration abilities of native plants.
When they photosynthesize, plants breathe in carbon dioxide and ultimately release it as carbon into the soil through their roots, thus removing CO2 from the atmosphere.
Carbon in the soil helps it stay healthy and fertile, whereas carbon in the atmosphere results in global temperature rises that put many species, including humans, at risk.
Turfgrass has a very shallow root system, making it unable to move as much carbon from the atmosphere into the soil as deep-rooted plant species.
Lawns are also directly linked to the decline of many wildlife populations. They remove natural habitats where these animals and plants are supposed to live. They also remove food sources for many animals like pollinators and herbivores, which impacts the entire food web.
Currently, 40% of insect species are declining and one-third are endangered. (Source: Sanchez-Bayo & Wyckhuys, 2019) We rely on pollinating insects for our food crops to grow. Yet we are spraying insecticides in our yards intentionally trying to kill them.
To learn how to get rid of your lawn in just a few steps, sign up for our newsletter here and get our free downloadable e-book “The Revolutionary Gardener’s Guide to Lawn Removal.”