The deep emerald hue of freshly clipped grass can paint the picture of suburban serenity. In some versions of the American Dream, the perfect lawn represents a keystone of success — often complementing a two-car garage and happy family, or perhaps compensating for the lack of such trappings.
“It’s the status symbol of leisure, that you have time to care for these landscapes,” says Susannah Lerman, a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service.
Lawns are so ubiquitous that Lerman says the U.S. claims an estimated 163,800 square kilometers of lawn space across the country, including parks and golf courses. That’s basically the combined land mass of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. But cultivating your own minuscule patch of turf comes with a number of ecological and environmental consequences. The unsustainable risks range from a depletion of water aquifers to the devastation of local ecosystems. A perfect lawn can also contribute to rising carbon dioxide emissions.
