THE BENEFITS OF LAWNS
While we often think of grass as just a pretty natural carpet, growing grass
can actually be beneficial to the environment:

• According to NASA’s Ames Research Center, U.S. lawns collectively absorb
about 12 billion pounds of carbon every year, helping to keep greenhouse gas
emissions from harming the atmosphere.

• Lawns act as a filter to help purify rainwater as it returns underground.
They also act as an anchor for topsoil to help prevent erosion.

THE CONCERNS ABOUT LAWNS
Unfortunately, most Americans grow and maintain their lawns in ways that can
harm the environment, in part because petrochemicals are the foundation of
most lawn care.  Conventional lawn care gobbles up fossil fuels, exacerbates
global warming, hogs water, and dumps pesticides and synthetic fertilizers
into waterways, adversely affecting our natural world.

The impacts to the planet and to the health of our families, pets and the
insects, birds and other critters that share our ecosystem are no longer
acceptable.  Consider these facts:

• In the U.S., approximately 2.2 billion gallons of fossil fuels are used on
lawn care each year, making grass a major contributor to global warming.

• The typical American lawn, about one-third of an acre, requires 10,000
gallons of water a year.  But in dry areas, that can increase to more than
100,000 gallons annually.  And the amount of fuel needed to pump the water
is at least equal to the fuel used in mowing. In some cities, as much as
two-thirds of urban freshwater is used to water lawns.

• To create synthetic nitrogen for fertilizers, natural gas must be heated
to up to 1,200 degrees.  The amount of natural gas required to make about
200 bags of lawn fertilizer would heat an average-sized home for a year.  
Each 40-pound bag of fertilizer contains fossil fuels equivalent to almost 3
gallons of gas.

• A report from the Seattle Public Utilities finds that up to 64% of the
chemicals applied to lawns can run off into waterways.  These chemicals in
lakes and streams can kill fish, birds and waterfowl and damage the food web
that supports all wildlife.

• Independent scientific studies have shown that the popular chemical
pesticide Roundup is toxic to earthworms, beneficial insects, birds and
mammals. Plus, Roundup destroys the vegetation on which animals depend for
food and shelter.

• Pesticides and fertilizers turn our lawns into increasingly needy
“junkies.”  In the long run, grass needs more and more chemicals to maintain
itself since its natural ecosystem has been destroyed.  It is a vicious and
unsustainable circle.