Fighting Climate Change Starts in Our Back Yards
Climate change due to human activity can feel like an existential crisis -- one that we are powerless to stop. The truth is that meaningful change begins with simple actions taken inside and outside our homes.
In Morris Township, our residential landscape is a great place to start. According to a 2015 NASA study, over 20% of the land area of New Jersey is covered in grass, so how we care for lawns has a big impact on the environment.
Over the decades, lawn care has become dependent on fertilizers and toxic herbicides and pesticides. Mowing and other maintenance activities create greenhouse gases.
Sustainable lawn care is a different way of thinking about your lawn—it’s about feeding the soil, not the plants. It’s about mowing less frequently, letting your grass grow longer, and mulching the clippings.
We urge you to take a look at the following resources and consider adopting any or all of these organic lawn care practices:
-
Our friends at the Environmental Commission of Madison and Sustainable Madison created a two-page brochure on Environmentally-Friendly Lawn Care. This is a simple and clearly written resource for homeowners and their landscapers.
-
The Great Healthy Yard Project offers lots of good information on why and how to have a pesticide-free yard, and offers a more detailed brochure called Growing Without Gunk.
-
For those who want to dive deeply into this subject, the Cornell University Cooperative Extension has a 20-page presentation titled Lawn Care without Pesticides. This is a truly comprehensive resource, with step-by-step instructions, illustrations and charts, and many other helpful ideas.
