Climate Connections: The problem with lawns – The Martha’s Vineyard Times 

I grew up in a very nice suburb, as suburbs go. Everyone conformed to the unspoken rules. For example, every property had a well-maintained green lawn. Well, almost everyone.The front yard of one property at the end of my block was a burst of colorful, often overgrown, boldly antiestablishment wildflowers. It was joyously out of place. It snubbed its nose at the buttoned-down commuters who passed by each morning on their way to the train station. I was a secret admirer of that yard, maybe because I knew the Vineyard, where nature was not as tamed as it was in my hometown.Way back then on the Vineyard, small, patchy lawns were the norm. They were meant for play, and when they turned brown in August, as lawns naturally do, nobody cared. Maybe the parents turned on one of those old metal sprinklers that sent shoots of water into the air and then back and forth across the lawn. Those sprinklers also supplied hours of carefree play for children.Today the Vineyard is flush with huge, manicured, jarringly green lawns, at the very same time that climate change is causing great stress to the land.In the dead of winter, as you contemplate your summer landscaping plans, here are some things to consider about lawns.Lawns take the nature out of nature. There are no trees to provide habitat, shade, or a windbreak. No plants, bees, or butterflies, and thus no pollination that keeps life humming along. Lawns create a housing crisis for wildlife.There are about 50 million acres of barren lawn in the U.S. Each year, 800 million gallons of climate-change-inducing gas is used to power lawn equipment. Seventy million pounds a year of pesticides are used on lawns, toxic to the soil, water, pets, and humans. Chemical fertilizer pollutes our water bodies with excess nitrogen.Some 9 million gallons a day of water is used to maintain these unnatural monocultures. Lawn irrigation systems spring to life at dawn, even in the rain, and spray water not only on the lawns but also the roads, where it picks up pollutants on its way into the ponds and harbors.On the Island, we are told we have an abundance of fresh water, our drinking water, in the aquifer. I worry, though. We keep irrigating and developing as drought conditions worsen.The more we manipulate the land, the harder it is for Mother Nature to adapt to climate impacts. You may think your one lawn isn’t doing much harm, but it all adds up –– yours is part of those 50 million acres of barren lawn.We need to go wild! To let go of our landscape inhibitions, and stop taming the natural world. “Think of lawns,” I heard a speaker say, “as throw rugs, not wall-to-wall carpeting.” In their place, plant native species — they are native for a reason. They are suited to local conditions, use less water, require less maintenance, and are both colorful and beautiful.You can learn more here:BiodiversityWorks, Natural Neighbors Program, biodiversitymv.org.
Vineyard Conservation Society, Vineyard Lawns Initiative,vineya