November 23, 2020
The Sierra Club magazine, Sierra recently featured Nelson Institute dean Paul Robbins in the article, "Gen Z's Next Victim: The Lawn." In the article, Robbins, who is the author of Lawn People: How Grasses, Weeds, and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are, shared insight into the environmental challenges brought about by lawns.
In particular, he shared that in the 1950s developers rapidly converted vast swaths of farmland into suburbs, scraping off fertile topsoil in the process. This led to many lawns becoming dependent upon cocktails of chemicals like herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizer to keep them acceptably green, which polluted the air and nearby water sources. Read more.
Photo credit: LAYRES | ISTOCK