For the love of lawns
There are multiple benefits to healthy yards
Xeriscapes, wood chips and synthetic turf are increasingly replacing lawns and gardens in many communities, but lawns are still an important part of our urban environment.
While some may choose to replace them to eliminate maintenance or as a personal design preference, those who love their lawns have good reasons for keeping them, including many with environmental benefits.
Healthy turf produces an amazing amount of oxygen. A 50-by-50-foot area of turf creates enough oxygen every day for a family of four. Turf grass also acts as a natural air purifier by trapping and removing pollutants from the atmosphere. Your lawn even serves as a filtration system, reducing run-off and erosion from heavy rains and recharging groundwater supplies.
Perhaps most important in a world with rising temperatures, a lawn has the same cooling power as three or four air conditioning units, without the energy costs, reducing the temperature around your home by 4°C to 8°C. On hot days, a lawn will be up to 39°C cooler than synthetic turf or hard surfaces.
Healthy green space makes a tremendous contribution to our environment and provides outdoor recreation space suitable for children, pets and people of all ages. The key to realizing all of these benefits is to ensure green space is cared for sustainably. Read labels and follow directions when feeding plants and turf. Then kick back and enjoy the cool comfort of a soft place to rest or play, right in your own backyard.