Why the Grass Isn't Always Greener Stephanie Joyce Abstract
In the United States, some 46.5 million acres of roadsides, lawns, golf courses, cemeteries, parks, and sports fields are now blanketed with turf--more than the total U.S. acreage of cotton, sorghum, barley, and oats. With the growth of lawns has come a host of concerns about human and environmental health effects, as well as an awareness of the lack of research on turf grasses. Environmentalists accuse the golf and turf industries of misuse or overuse of pesticides and water. Lawn machinery contributes both air and noise pollution, and lawn clippings constitute almost 21% of material added to municipal waste dumps annually. Opponents also warn of declining biodiversity, charging that the spread of lawns and golf courses has destroyed native plants and aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in favor of an artificial, unsustainable monoculture. On the other hand, properly cultivated turf grasses can improve and restore soils, reduce noise, and help dissipate the radiant heat loads typical of urban areas. There are strong suggestions that turf grass stands provide benefits in terms of filtration of polluted runoff. Lawns have a perceived economic value, too, adding to the value or selling price of homes. Turf professionals and environmentalists are struggling to develop an alliance. New strategies that please both camps include building golf courses on the sites of former limestone quarries, coal mines, sand and gravel pits, and concrete factories. And increasing consciousness of the economic and environmental costs of poor lawn management has led to numerous changes, such as a switch among many U.S. homeowners to organic gardening, and the now-mandatory use by federal agencies of integrated pest management, which favors appropriate cultivation, improved pest identification, and spot treatment over pesticides.
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