Pages

Friday, April 22, 2016

How much is too much?

When we think of replacing our natural lawns with artificial lawns and grasses such as turf, we don't realize how much turf grass can hurt us as well as the wildlife. It seems that we've become obsessed with this idea that my grass must be greener than my neighbors. This competitive mentality quickly spreads from one person to the next, and soon, the entire neighborhood has artificial lawns. And it's not even residential areas that this is happening to. We see it every weekend in the fall when our favorite football team hits the gridiron. You ever hear the expression, "The grass is always greener on the other side." What they don't realize is how much impact that greener grass is costing us in the long run.

After looking around online for some articles, I ran across THIS ONE from the University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. In it, they discuss the impact that turf lawns have on wildlife, water consumption, and maintenance costs. But, what really stood out to me was the sheer amount of turf lawns in the United States alone. Roughly 62,500 square miles of ground is covered by turf, which is 31 times the size of Delaware! People don't seem to realize how much turf and artificial lawns have taken over our own natural earth just here in our own backyards.

No comments:

Post a Comment