This week we’re going to talk about lawns. They look great, right? They're soft to walk on, I guess they're nice enough to look at. They're great for backyard cricket if you are one of those people. But they're actually pretty shit for the environment. For a long time I’ve been a big advocate for just digging up all lawns, but if you don’t quite understand why I feel this way, this is the episode for you.
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Transcript:
Kia ora kaitiaki and welcome to Now That's What I Call Green, the podcast that uses a science-based approach to expose the bullshit green scans and help you understand the sustainability world that little bit better. So if you are looking to navigate through everything green or not so green, you have come to the right place. Kia ora and welcome back to Now That's What I Call Green and I'm just so excited to see the comments on social about this one because we're going to talk about lawns.
They look great, right? They're soft to walk on, I guess they're nice enough to look at, they're great for backyard cricket if you are one of those people, but they're actually pretty shit to the environment. And I've talked about this on social media before and I was quite literally sent a death threat for it, which was upsetting, but also like shows real commitment to lawn culture. I think massive lawns are pointless, but you do you. I'm not telling you what to do. If you want to make your backyard more wildlife friendly, well, great, listen on. And if you don't, well, nobody's making you.
It ain't worth getting upset about. Do you even know how lawns became super popular? This has got interesting roots. The concept of lawns is ancient. In Mesopotamia, which is modern-day Iraq, the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, had terraced lawns with plants and trees. That is sort of our first real recorded idea of a lawn.
In medieval Europe, they had grassy areas within moats, which was sometimes referred to as lawns, with an E on the end, which is where the word comes from. These areas were kind of functional, a lot more functional than what we have now. They were just for defence or for grazing livestock. In the Renaissance period, so 16th century England in particular, lawns started to have more aesthetic and recreational roles.
They became a symbol of prestige and were often associated with aristocracy. I think this is the important bit because this hasn't changed that much and a lot of what is embedded into lawn culture is this idea that it demonstrates wealth. In the 17th century, lawns gained popularity further in France and England, cultivated exclusively by wealthy landowners, of course, and without lawnmowers, I can only assume they had a lot of sheep. In the 18th century, lawns became slightly more accessible because a bloke called Edward Budding, who was a budding inventor, sorry, he invented the lawnmower in 1830 and totally revolutionised lawn maintenance, making life a lot easier.
In the 19th century in the US, lawns gained popularity as urbanisation and the growth of suburban communities took hold. The suburban ideal, the American dream, included a well-manicured lawn as a symbol again of prosperity and suburban living. And in the 20th and 21st century as well, the same culture has continued to thrive. Now of course we have synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, weed and feed, automatic sprinkler systems, and the perfect green lawn has become a standard in a lot of our culture, often promoted by the lawn care industry, who are clearly also PR geniuses.
Right, now we know where they come from, now let's get rid of them. Here is why I think you should dig them up. Lawns are super resource intensive and give absolutely nothing back. If you want a really good lawn, if you want to do it properly, they are typically maintained with chemicals and excess water. Depending on where you are, particularly if you're in a hot, arid region, they use a lot of water. And fun fact, according to the EPA or the Environmental Protection Agency, landscape irrigation accounts for one third of all residential water use in the US.
One third! Yeah, that's bonkers. Another issue depending on how hard you are into your lawn care is the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. A lot of homeowners use these to maintain a pristine lawn, but they are pretty detrimental on local ecosystems. These chemicals will leach into groundwater, they harm beneficial insects, contaminate water bodies and they can cause problems like algae blooms.
Something to think about if you're worried about your carbon footprint is of course traditional lawn mowers emit greenhouse gases. And I mean mowing your lawn every weekend is just something else you have to do. Okay, so lawns suck, right? I think we're in agreement. I can already hear people rolling their eyes. But if you want to keep your lawn, here's some halfway options for you. So one is to reduce the size of your lawn and replace it with plants.
And plants are prettier anyway. And native plants are even better. They require less water, less maintenance, they're more suited to your region's climate and plant support biodiversity and local wildlife. Have you heard of insect islands? Well, stay tuned because we're going to dig into them shortly. If you really love your lawn, you don't want to give it up, no worries, invest in an electric or manual lawnmower.
Zero emissions and doesn't irritate your neighbour at 9am every Saturday morning. If you are in an area that is struggling with water scarcity, I'm looking at you California, use a grass species that copes with it, not one that needs constant sprinkling. We think of water as this infinite resource, it really isn't. Okay, I've met you halfway, but do you know what's better than lawns? Pretty much anything. But let's start with wildflower meadows. I have been experimenting with wildflower meadows at home, and look, they're a little harder than they look, and they only look like Instagram worthy for a couple of weeks, but they are beautiful for that couple of weeks, and a super ecologically rich choice. They provide lots of nectar, lots of pollens, you have lots of pollinators like bees and butterflies and other insects. Do not forget, we've lost approximately 70% of our insects globally. And whilst you might think that's good because you're frightened of them, and I get it, it's very, very bad. If you can get them, native wildflowers are particularly valuable as they support local wildlife and are adapted to the local climate.
Again, less water. You can often find native wildflower seed mixes around your area. Insect islands. Now if you've ever seen me on social media, you might have seen me talk about these because I'm kind of proud of them. When I moved into my lifestyle block, for some unknown reason, there was acres and acres of lawn. Now, I don't feel like sitting on my lawnmower for years or paying someone to do it, so I dug up a lot of it, but there was still a lot left. So I dug up patches in my main lawn and I designated them as insect islands. A lawn is a big monoculture, right? So there's not a lot for flying and crawling insects to get from it, so they don't visit.
These insect islands provide like little oases in a desert, if you like, for them to visit. Insect islands are specific habitats designed to attract and support beneficial insects like bees and ladybugs and butterflies or whatever. And all you need to do, dig up some lawn, plant a variety of native flowering plants or herbs or shrubs or trees or whatever that provide food and shelter. Don't use pesticides, be careful what potting mix you use. Easy peasy. If you want to go full hog, then dig up the lawn in favour of a pond. You could attract cute little frogs, you'll get dragonflies, aquatic insects. Most importantly, it's a source of water for the wildlife that you're bringing into your garden. Don't forget to provide rocks though so things don't drown. If you like gardening and you like cooking, then I mean plant an eatable garden. A food forest. Grow veggies and fruits and herbs and things that you can harvest for your meals. They taste infinitely better, as anyone who's ever grown a vegetable garden will know, and saves you loads of money too. Sometimes the best thing you can do if you garden is leave it alone.
So if you've got a lawn, you can't be bothered digging it up, you don't want to mow it, then don't. Leave it alone. If it's not a fire hazard, there's an important distinction there. Let it grow a little bit longer, let the weeds start to invade, because then it becomes a biodiverse oasis for everything from insects to birds, butterflies, and you might even start to see lizards make their way back into your yard. So there's a lot of things you can do with your lawn, and that certainly wasn't an exhaustive list.
So if I've got you excited about digging something up, tell me what you end up doing, because I'm really interested. And finally, let's bust some lawn myths because lawn culture is a whole thing. There are forums on Reddit dedicated to lawn care. Look, I'm not knocking it because there are lots of situations where lawn care is critical, like golf courses and stuff, but here is some stuff you might have heard that ain't, well, right. So if you do have a lawn and you want to keep it in good nick and maybe improve the health of your soil, listen on. A healthy lawn must be bright green and weed free because that's what we see in movies, right? It's the epitome of health, but it's kind of like a cultural thing and not an ecological necessity.
Colour variation is natural. Grass colour can and should vary depending on things like species and soil health and water availability. So a healthy lawn is usually more than one shade of green. Embrace the weed. A weed is just a plant growing in the wrong place, right? And some common lawn weeds, as we call them, like clover, make the soil better by fixing nitrogen so you don't need to use fertilisers.
They also provide a habitat and food for insects and other pollinators, of course. Dandelions, same deal. They have really deep roots, so they actually aerate the soil as well and they help cycle nutrients. And if you have a bearded dragon like I do, well, dandelions are like dragon crack. Having that variety of plants in your lawn, it may not be picture perfect to your eyes, but it makes your soil a better place. And did you know we're also running out of soil? Well, there's going to be another episode for another day. Well, if I haven't convinced you to at least think about your lawn, well, I mean, I'm sorry, I clearly lost my touch. I have some videos on social media that might do the trick instead. Stay tuned next week because we're going to be talking about where to put your money to avoid investing in things that exacerbate climate change. Because I bet you don't know what your money does while you're not even awake. Thanks for tuning in to this super short, slightly bizarre episode all about how much I hate loved ones.
Kia ora kaitiaki, see you next week. And there you go. I hope you learned something and realised that being green isn't about everything in your pantry matching with those silly glass jars or living in a commune. If that's your jam, fabulous. But sustainability at its heart is just using what you need. If you enjoyed this episode, please don't keep it to yourself and feel free to drop me a rating and hit the subscribe button. me a rating and hit the subscribe button. Kia ora and I'll see you next week.
