Our Little Patch of Earth
By Albert B. Kelly
With the arrival of spring comes certain of rituals common
to homeowners, and maybe some renters, but mostly homeowners- the quest for the
perfect lawn.
We’re talking the quest for something that resembles that
lush infield grass at Citizen’s Bank Park or maybe those great grass expanses
on some of baseball’s best outfields. That visual is separate from my love of a
freshly mowed lawn.
It’s a whole thing - from the mower lines to the uniform
height of the grass blades to that lush green carpet-like feel, much as you
might find at a finely groomed golf course, which is good for me since my golf game
can be painful to watch at times.
Of course for many of us, we’re talking about getting that
perfect lawn in our front yard areas and backyard spaces and perhaps the side
yard as well. As we approach summer, many will labor for our beautiful little
patch of earth where we can enjoy cooking on the grill, playing with our kids
or grandkids or sitting on the patio.
Until recently, I never gave the quest for the perfect lawn
much thought. But after coming across some numbers in Paul Bogard’s book “The
Ground Beneath us” I’m not so sure that we’re not doing more harm than good,
especially when it comes to our environment.
Consider that in this country we spend roughly $40 billion a
year on lawn care and lawn care products. This includes grass seed,
fertilizers, insecticide, weed killers, weed-n-feeds, and equipment and for
those who can afford it- companies to take care of our lawns for us.
In the pursuit of the perfect lawn, or at least as close as
we can get to perfect, on average we use roughly 200 gallons of water per
person, per day, watering our lawns. This
isn’t rain water we’ve captured in a barrel, its drinking-quality water that’s
spent trying to keep our yards green. That’s why I have a rain barrel for my
yard.
As satisfying as a great lawn might be, we have to get real
about the fact that our water supply is not infinite- with climate change,
drought, global warming and whatever else may come, we’re not that far away
from a time when water is just not there for us.
Water scarcity is one side of the lawn equation; the other
is our use of fertilizers, insecticides, and weed-n-feeds. As far as killing
weeds and growing grass the stuff is great, but not to drink. Some 40% to 60%
of the nitrogen we spread each year finds its way into our water supply.
American’s use some 90 million pounds of fertilizer each
year and roughly 75 million pounds of insecticide annually on our lawns which,
if combined as one great big lawn, would come out to something roughly the size
of Georgia.
According to Bogard’s research, the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) recently found lawn-care chemicals in every one of the 9,000
people they tested for such chemicals- with most folks 13 out of the 23 most
commonly used pesticides in their bodies.
If that doesn’t make you nervous, then consider that 19 out
of the 30 most commonly used lawn pesticides are linked with cancer. This
exposure isn’t happening in some special or out-of-the-way place, it’s
happening in the place where we feel safest- at home.
But here’s the rub, most folks would agree that using untold
gallons of precious water on our lawns is not good stewardship of our
resources. They would also likely agree that pesticides and fertilizers, many
of which are linked to cancer, are bad things to let seep into the water supply
we drink.
But most folks think their routine isn’t the problem, that
it’s someone else’s routine that should change and that’s why no one changes. Changing
doesn’t mean we can’t have nice yards, it just means we’re going to have to
spend a little more time and effort finding better ways to have that great
lawn.
A new approach might include using corn gluten meal as a
weed-n-feed. Corn gluten, used as hog feed, is a natural way to feed lawns and
keep the weeds down. When it comes to watering lawns, find out what the minimum
watering should be and please consider using rain barrels.
There are many alternatives that we can do that will let us
have the perfect lawn safely and responsibly.