Grass is NOT Evil…

Last Updated on January 30, 2025 by Brian Beck

I have noticed a trend about grass over the past few years that is a little disturbing and I wanted to chime in and provide my opinion as there are several objections against having a lawn.

1. “My lawn takes way too much money to keep up with”  This is probably the most common objection, I can’t afford a nice lawn. The reality is that there is probably a great deal of disfunction in this person’s soil and there is so much of it they cannot overcome what it takes to correct the damage. This is compounded by a lack of knowledge and poor habits that are undermining the situation that would probably result in a mediocre lawn even if the soil was healthy.

2. “I have given up and rocked in my lawn” Rocks are best described as a magnet for weeds, it is by no means maintenance free. Aside from the huge cost of removing the existing landscape and installing rock, for the first year maybe two it is deceptively easy, that is until the weeds seeds take root and the horror show begins. Unless this is tackled early it can become more work than having a lawn depending on how long the situation is ignored. In the bigger picture, wat people do not realize is that they are contributing to a disruption of the water cycle. The water cycle is the process in which water that evaporates falls back to earth. The reality is rocks absorb heat and then reflect it later. This heat collectively helps to discourage the formation of rain clouds, adding to overall heat and dehydration of a region. We don’t need less plant life, we need more to encourage this process.

3. “I’m using my front lawn as a garden, it is better for the earth.” OK, I by no means am anti-garden or anti-food that is silly. I think people should learn to grow food for themselves. I don’t think it has to be binary and there are benefits to having all types of plant life. While a garden may be able to feed you a lawn produces much more oxygen and being a perennial they come back next year and you do not have to reestablish it as you do annual plants which is what 90% of gardens are. When did prairies become a detriment to the ecosystem? Lawns in this sense are often seen as wasteful and having a garden with pollinators seems like a virtue for some people. Lawns cool the air, reduce noise, absorb toxins, sequester carbon and are generally really good for rolling around in and playing on. Everything has it’s place.

4. “I don’t believe in lawns, I think they are bad for the planet.” I’m not sure when we arrived at a place in history when plant life became toxic or evil. I feel that this objection is based on emotion rather than sound science and usually has a profound bias to it. I will agree that the traditional method of lawn management is wasteful and is a risk to the environment but that is the method and not the plant. It is just being mismanaged and tat mismanagement is causing a lot of wasted resources, human and mechanical energy. Water often comes up as being a morality issue in regard to having a lawn. Again, I agree, water is expensive and most of it is wasted through inefficiencies created by traditional means of management. Healthy lawns don’t use that much water (about half) and they use even less man-made chemicals. Remember we want more plants to counteract the displacement of urban development with pavement, structures, cars, etc. Grass helps manage this heat gain from urban development. A healthy lawn can actually be an asset to the environment if it is properly managed.

These represent a lot of the objections when it comes to grass. Most of the are based on misunderstandings, ignorance of healthy practices, reliance on traditional methods which are wasteful, tradition, myth and an overall unawareness of the reality of how the soil works for or against what is growing in it. This equation can be improved and much of the problems that are objections can be overcome with proper education.