Why you should kill your lawn
5/21/202621 min
Green, grassy lawns are bad for the environment. They need a ton of water, they’re inhospitable to wildlife and gas-powered mowers contribute to greenhouse gases. Celia Llopis-Jepsen, host of Harvest Public Media’s Up From Dust podcast, shares how to turn your lawn into a low-maintenance native plant garden, lessening your environmental impact while still keeping your yard pleasing to the eye.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Marielle Segarra· Host0:15
You're listening to Life Kit [upbeat music] from NPR. Hey, it's Mariel. I grew up in a suburb of New York City, and our neighborhood was the definition of post-war development. Lots of houses in the same style, evenly spaced with bright green manicured lawns. And the lawns were good to us. My brother and I, we played barefoot in the sprinklers. We drove around in our little electric red Jeep. We tossed the ball to our dog, who was big and blonde and full of energy. What I'm saying is, grassy lawns, they have their appeal.
Celia Llopis-Jepsen· Guest0:51
But the reality is that we do, let's be honest, have a lot more lawn than we actually use. A lot of it is basically just kind of, like, for the look, right? It's kind of, like, aesthetic.
Marielle Segarra· Host1:04
This is Celia Llopis Jepson, a science reporter at Harvest Public Media and the host of their environmental podcast, Up From Dust.
Celia Llopis-Jepsen· Guest1:12
If you add up all this manicured grass turf that we've got in the US at this point, it actually adds up to an area that's bigger than the state of Georgia.
Marielle Segarra· Host1:23
Yeah, it's a lot of lawn, and it's a problem because the things we do to keep these lawns tidy and green