Другое : The Adverse Effects of Green Lawns
The Adverse Effects of Green Lawns
The
Adverse Effects of Green Lawns
An
Essay By
Mekan
Melyayev
English
Composition 121
February
26, 2002
Essay: The adverse effects of green
lawns.
Lush, green,
beautiful lawns surround almost every house in my suburban neighborhood. Green
lawns are part of suburban culture. Few people consider the idea of not having
one. The
Associated Landscape Contractors of America, a trade group, claims, "A
properly installed and maintained lawn gives homeowners a 100 to 200 percent
return on their investment and increases overall property values in the
neighborhood" (http://www.homestore.com).
Conversely, a poorly maintained lawn reduces property values for the
neighborhood. Thus it makes sense to believe that people who own lavish,
evenly trimmed, green lawns with no weeds or insect pests are good neighbors
and responsible citizens.
This, however,
doesn’t mean that a nation of neighborhoods with such lawns is a nation of good
neighbors and responsible citizens. Such neighborhoods come with a hidden
cost to society and to future generations. All homeowners know the price they
personally pay to maintain their lawn. But they might not know that, far from
being a harmless means of beautifying homes, the maintenance of lavish lawns
has at least four serious consequences for society: pesticide toxicity,
fertilizer runoff, water consumption and greenhouse gas production.
Each year, 67
million pounds of pesticides are used on lawns across the United States. This
is about five to nine pounds of pesticide per acre of lawn (Daniels Stivie, The
Green Lawn Handbook, 8). Pesticides are chemicals that are used to kill
insects that live in grass. Even though few people consider pesticides to be
toxic or harmful to humans, U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada said “chemicals
used in lawn care may cause cancer, nerve damage, liver and kidney damage,
birth defects, and even death.” (The Use and Regulations of Lawn Care
Chemicals, 2)
Not many people
are aware that lawn pesticides can be lethal. In a Senate Hearing on the
subject of pesticides, Thomas Prior of Maplewood, Virginia talked about the
death of his brother after exposure to pesticides. “He became grotesquely
swollen; enormous blisters appeared on his body; one by one his organs failed;
his skin sloughed off and he became blind. The pain was ceaseless and after
fourteen excruciating days, he died.” (The Use and Regulation of Lawn Care
Chemicals, 21)
Lawn pesticides
are harmful to wildlife, too. If pesticides can kill a human being, then we can
imagine what they can do to wildlife. Seeing geese, squirrels, prairie dogs,
and rabbits is quite normal in suburbia. These and many other animals naturally
feed on grass, and lawns might seem to be excellent food sources for them. Diazinon
(a type of pesticide) was banned in 1986, because it resulted in the death of
songbirds, waterfowl, eagles, and other birds of prey (Daniels Stivie The
Wild Lawn Handbook, 6).
Lawns don’t absorb
all the pesticides applied to them. The rest are washed into the water table,
where they contaminate the drinking water. According to the Environmental
Protection Agency, pesticides have been found in the groundwater of dozens of
states (The Use and Regulations of Lawn Care Chemicals, 10). This
causes an increase in the price of drinking water, because the government has
to spend more money on purification.
Fertilizer runoff
is another major problem. According to a study by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, only about 50% of the nitrogen and phosphorous in
fertilizer is utilized by plants. The rest is dissolved in the groundwater.
When this runs into rivers, it causes tremendous growth in the number of
bacteria and microscopic plants suspended in the water. These organisms use
the oxygen which would normally be available for marine life.
The portion of the
Gulf of Mexico which receives the effluent of the Mississippi River is so low
in oxygen that it is referred to as a "Dead Zone". All fish and
shrimp have abandoned this zone. Marine animals, which are not able to flee,
such as ground feeders and worms, have died. This dead zone is in the center
of one of the most important commercial and recreational fisheries in the
United States (Flux and Sources of Nutrients in the Mississippi –
Atchafalaya River Basin, 4).
As water is
becoming a major issue of the new century, we continue using water to irrigate
our lawns. The average lawn requires about 10,000 gallons of water over the
course of a summer to keep it green. This water is often diverted from other
uses, such as agriculture. By the year 2005, at least 40% of the world’s
population might face serious problems with agriculture, industry or human
health, if they rely only on natural freshwater. Severe water shortages could
strike even water-rich countries such as the United States (Scientific
American, 42-43).
Greenhouse gasses
are produced both by the decomposition of grass clippings, and by the use of
lawnmowers. Clippings disposed of in sealed plastic bags are broken down into
methane. Methane traps over 21 times more heat per molecule than carbon
dioxide. Most lawn mowers use two-stroke gasoline engines, which are very
inefficient at creating power from hydrocarbon fuels, and are highly polluting
(United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2001).
Thirty million
acres, totalling roughly 468,750 square miles, are devoted to American lawns
(Jenkins Scott. The Lawn: A History of American Obsession). Individual
homeowners cannot ignore the rights of their neighbors to maintain the value of
their homes, but as a nation we cannot ignore the hidden costs of this use of
resources. Perhaps the solution to this conundrum is to develop a new national
consensus on what constitutes a truly beautiful lawn.
Works Cited
Daniels, Stivie. The Green Lawn Handbook.
Macmillan: New York, 1995
Geleick, Peter. “Making Every Drop Count.”
Scientific American Feb. 2001: 42-43
Jenkins, Scott. The Lawn: A History of
American Obsession: Washington, DC: 1994
Lawn and
Gardens. (2001): 9 pars. 23 Feb 2002 <http://www.homestore.com>
United
States Department of Commerce. NOAA Coastal Ocean Program. Flux and Sources of
Nutrients in the Mississippi – Atchafalaya River Basin. Series 17, Washington:
GPO, 1999.
United
States Environmental Protection Agency. Greenhouse Gas Emmisions from
Mananagent of Selected Materials in Munipal Solid Waste. Washington: GPO, 1998
United
States Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works. The Use and
Regulation of Lawn Care Chemicals. 101st Cong., 2nd sess. Washington: GPO,
1990
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