The 800 Pound Gorilla in our Backyards

Why Focus on the Suburban Lawn?

• A high level of American’s interaction with the environment occurs here – need to teach the right lessons

• Third largest “crop” in the U.S. – and growing!

• Especially important for urban watersheds like the N.W. Branch – can be the major source of pollutants

The Lawn Ecosystem in the U.S.

• Imported from Europe – is an artificial ecosystem

• Only able to become widespread because of technological innovations

• Americans spend 25 Billion dollars a year on landscaping

• $100 for every person in the country

• $380 for every household

The National Costs of the Lawn Ecosystem

Percent Lawn Maintenance Expense forthe United States

Labor

60%

Fertilizer

4%

Gas

3%

Pesticide

3%

Equipment

20%

Other

8%

Seed

2%

The Costs Associated with Lawn Care

• The average homeowner spends six times more per hectare on yard care than the average farmer spends tending crops.

Landowner Total Cost Cost/Person Cost/Hectare

Homeowners $25 Billion $379.00 $2,500/hectare

Farmers $57 Billion Not available $420/hectare

The Ecological Footprint Concept

An ecological footprint is a way of translating the environmental impacts of an activity into the land needed to sustain that activity ad infinitum

Ecological Footprint of the Lawn at the National and State Level

Input Total Energy Use (GJ) Total Footprint (Hectares) Footprint per Hectare (Hectares)

  Pennsylvania National Pennsylvania National Pennsylvania National

Land N/A N/A 548,350 11,600,000 1.0 1.0

Water 7.7x105 6.1x106 9,625 76,500 0.018 0.007

Fuel 6.8x106 9.1x107 85,000 1,138,000 0.155 0.098

Machine Production

8.8x105 4.4x107 11,000 550,000 0.02 0.047

Fertilizer Production

1.4x106 1.32x107 17,500 165,000 0.032 0.014

Pesticide Production

4.8x105 4.8x106 600 60,000 0.001 0.004

Total 1.03x107 1.59x108 672,075 13,589,500 1.226 1.170

•Nationally we use enough energy in lawn care every year to supply 1.5 million American households with power for a year.

•1/5 hectare of land is needed to provide enough energy to care for one hectare of lawn

Estimated National and State Level Air Pollution from Lawn Care

• Although used infrequently, lawn equipment creates a significant amount of air pollution because small engine emission standards are more lenient than large engine standards.

• Lawn equipment produces between 10-30 times as much air pollution per liter of gas as a car.

Input Particulate Matter per Hectare

NOx and

HC's per Hectare

Total CO per Hectare

Total CO2 per

Hectare

Total NH3

per Hectare

National 11.5 kg/yr. 403 kg/yr. 1,910 kg/yr.

806 kg/yr.

0.017 kg/yr.

PA 14 kg/yr. 540 kg/yr. 2,537 kg/yr.

1,082 kg/yr.

0.032 kg/yr.

The Lawn’s Impact on Biota

•Very few studies on this topic

•Studies show that urban growth favors generalist and exotic species

Comparison of Biota with Different Maintenance Regimes

Maintenance Regime

High Maintenance

Medium Maintenance

Low Maintenance

Number of Plant Species Found

2 species 5 species 16 species

Percentage of Native Species Found

0 percent 0 percent 56 percent

Impacts of Lawns on Soil & Water

• 1/5 of all pesticides are used on lawns – 10x higher than farmer’s use

• 10 percent of water pollution comes from lawn care

• 1/3 of household water use is used in lawn care

Runoff and Soil Loss• Rain water infiltration is

2.5 greater in natural fields than the compacted lawns of suburbia

• Reduces groundwater recharge

• Makes streams more flashy

• Increases erosion rates

What to do?

Solutions Grow from a Sense of Place – Design for the Place Where You Live

Use poorly draining land as a pond or install a rain garden there

What to do?

Design and maintain yard using ecological accounting

Example: Integrated pest management vs. pesticides

What to do?

Design and maintain yards with Nature instead of against it

Example: yard waste – compost vs. landfill

What to do?

Make nature visible•People become interested in nature through their yards & parks

•Helps them make the connection between themselves and the environment around them

Concrete Examples

• Rain Barrels • Composters

More Examples

• Urban Shared Gardens • Rain Gardens

Still more

• Reduce lawn sizes • Eliminate exotics/plant perennials & natives

More Examples

• Green roofs • Plant trees