Why monoculture lawns must come to an end and bring forth a new biodiverse era!

1. Lawns are Bad:
Why monoculture lawns must come to an
end and bring forth a new biodiverse era!
By Jacalyn Morgan

2. History of Lawns
● Earliest lawns were around medieval castles
in France in Britain.
● Grazing animals, slaves, and low wage
workers became groundskeepers for the
wealthy.
● Became an indication of wealth and status.
● Immigrants from Europe brought both the
idea of the lawn and grass lawn seeds to
North America.
● Growth of the American suburbs created a
boom in lawn culture.

3. The Traditional American Lawn
● In 2005, a NASA satellite study found
that American grass lawns take up
49,000 sq. miles. Approx. equal to the
size of Greece.
● Predominantly a monoculture
● Generally turf grass
● May have a single tree or some shrubs

4. Traditional American Lawns Need
● Water
● Pesticides
● Fertilizers
● Lawnmowers
● Maintenance

5. Mowing and Fossil Fuels
● Lawnmowers contribute to 4% of total US emissions
● Generally powered by 2-stroke and 4-stroke engines
● 800 gallons of of gasoline annually burned
○ 17 million gallons spilled
○ Equivalent of 6 million passenger cars running idle for a year
● 30% of fuel does not combust completely
○ This releases more soot and carbon monoxide, which is bad for
human health
● Solutions:
○ Electric mowers
○ Reduce mowing frequency
○ Replace grass with low-growing alternative

6. Synthetic Fertilizers
● Homeowners use 3 million tons of fertilizer each year
● For every ton of nitrogen created to make fertilizer, 4-5
tons of carbon is added to the atmosphere
● Soil microbes turn excess nitrogen into nitrous gas, a
greenhouse gas with 300 times the heat trapping
ability of CO2
● Fertilizers run off into local bodies of water and create
toxic algae blooms
● Solution:
○ Let lawn clippings decompose on the lawn
○ Start a natural compost system

7. Effects of Pesticides
● (EPA) 70 million pounds of pesticides are used on
lawns every year in the US
● Lawn pesticides kill 7 million birds a year
● Runs off into bodies of water and affects
reproductive systems of fish
● Environmental book published in 1962 on the
environmental harm caused by pesticides
● Caused a ban on DDT for environmental uses
and started a movement that led to the creation
of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

8. Water Consumption
● (EPA) Lawns consume 3 trillion gallons of
water per year
● 90 gallons of water/sq. Foot of lawn
○ ½ is lost to evaporation
● Importance of conserving water:
○ Saves energy (filter, heating, and pumping)
○ Diverts less water from rivers, bays, and estuaries
○ Prepare for future droughts
○ 3% of water is freshwater, and only 0.5% is drinkable
○ Saving water is economical
● Solutions:
○ Replace lawns with plants that require less water

9. Lawns and Pollinators
● Traditional lawns destroy
habitat for pollinators since
grass is not a nectar source
● Pesticides contribute to a
dwindling bee population
● Reducing the frequency of
mowing your lawn by ½ could
increase bee populations by 30%
● Solution:
○ Grow a pollinator garden in your
yard

10. Does it makes sense to have lawns in Las Vegas?
● Southern Nevada Water
Authority predicts that
removing 4,000 acres of
grass from Las Vegas would
save 10 billion gallons of
water annually.
● A sq. foot of grass in Las
Vegas requires 73 gallons of
water per year.
● Droughts in Nevada are
already being exacerbated
by climate change.

11. Alternatives to Grass Lawns
● Clover
○ Relatively drought tolerant
○ Little to no mowing
○ Attracts pollinators such as bees
○ Never needs fertilizer
○ Never needs herbicides
○ Immune to dog urine
○ Grows well in poor quality soil
● Native Wildflowers
○ Feeds pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and
hummingbirds
○ Regulates flooding due to long roots
○ Prevents Erosion
○ No need for fertilizer

12. Examples of Biodiverse Lawns with Native Flora

13. Sources
The History of Lawns | Planet Natural
How To Make a Bee-Friendly Garden | BBC Gardeners World Magazine
Advantages and Disadvantages of Clover Lawns - Dengarden
Why grow wildflowers? | The Wildflower Garden (love-wildflowers.org.uk)
Grassy lawns banned in Las Vegas to conserve water under one-of-a-kind state law (yahoo.com)
Las Vegas declares turf war on lawns as drought worsens | Reuters
The Case for Clover Lawns, the Environmentally Friendly Alternative to Grass - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Lawn Maintenance and Climate Change — PSCI (princeton.edu)
Lawn Pesticides | Audubon New York
The Problem of Lawns (columbia.edu)

14. Questions?