America likes its lawns. Altogether, grass lawns in the US cover an area the size of Georgia. So what does this mean for the climate? And can we do better? To find out, we’re joined by lawn expert and social ecologist Dr. Peter Groffman. He shares some surprising findings from his 20 years studying lawns and the people who care for them. Plus, we turn to one listener’s pet peeve: artificial turf. And we share tips on how to make your yard as climate-friendly as possible.
Call to action:
1. Check out the National Wildlife Federation’s Guide to Adopting Wildlife Friendly Property Maintenance Ordinances.
2. Ready to tear up your grassy lawn? Your state’s university extension service or a local nonprofit organization probably has tips. See examples here from Maryland and Colorado.
Check out our Call to Action archive for all the actions we recommended at the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our listener mail form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us I tweet and Instagram.
This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Daniel Ackerman. The rest of our reporting and production team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Anna Ladd and Rachel Waldholz. Our supervising producer is Matt Shilts. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Our intern is Janae Morris. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music by Peter Leonard and Emma Munger. Our fact checker for this episode was Claudia Geib. A special thanks to Dr. Cristina Milesi.
