When anything artificial moves in to replace or remove something natural, it is a logical and instinctive thought to believe that the environment is losing out. But is that always the case? Is it really true that our gardens should always have natural lawns, or could artificial grass be a genuinely viable alternative that isn’t as damaging to the environment as we might first think. Consider the following four points, and then weigh up your decision. The first two exploring why our love of natural lawns could be more environmentally disruptive than we think, and the last two showing that artificial grasses can actually work wonders for the natural world.
The Negatives of the Natural
Water Woes
Outside certain parts of Western Europe and North America, natural lawns do not fit in at all with the native climate. The Poaceae plant family that makes them up requires an exorbitant intake of water to keep themselves green and growing. Everywhere else, you will be busy with the hosepipe every couple of days to prevent your garden from becoming much more brown than green. Forcing the water cycle to process so much more water for the sole gain of basically just looking nice seems extravagant to say the least. Replacing your turf grass with plants native to the area is a start, but an area that requires no water at all, could be said to be valuable in the face of the bizarre alternative
Manufactured Monoculture
The normal state of affairs with any natural land is diversity. Plants of various species. Insects from a multitude of families. Thousands upon thousands of forms of bacteria, arthropods, and any number of other life forms. With a lawn though, one plant is given premium space and the primary focus, in a way that in nature simply would not happen. This kind of monoculture has strange effects on the eco-system more broadly. Some animals can become so plentiful now that their habitat is everywhere, they can die out though unrestricted overpopulation. Others, who are preyed upon by the aforementioned creatures, could find themselves near extinct, only to then burst back into populous growth in a wildly unpredictable fashion. Monoculture has its uses, agriculture springs to mind. But if the use is simply a picturesque environment, maybe we should think more cautiously about what we are doing.
The Advantages of the Artificial
Greener Upkeep
From an upkeep and maintenance point of view, artificial grass is a massive win for the environment. Not only does it require massively less water than either natural lawns, or cultivated native grasslands, it also circumvents that pesky businesses of pests and how we kill them. Garden pests of many and various kinds are a problem throughout the world, but the way we often kill them is a bigger issues. Pesticides for certain insects and arthropods, fungicides for spores and plants of a kind that we don’t want here thank you very much. But all of these can find their way into water runoff, which in turn enters our agriculture and ends up in our food. Agricultural use of these things is a huge concern, but domestic concern is a problem too. We shouldn’t let the fallacy of relative privation blind us to the problems this can represent, and the angle of attack artificial grass offers here.
Rainwater Recovered
The wasting of water is a huge problem, so any system that can properly recover it should be considered an exceptional win for the environment. Artificial grass drainage systems are a great example of a good way to do this. By installing the kinds of systems that are normally reserved for roofs into the very ground we walk on, rainwater capture becomes infinitely easier. With this move the other plants in the garden can be kept healthy and watered in a much more environmentally sustainable way.
We should always be willing to challenge and question every aspect of the world around us. How much of it is there because it makes sense, and how much of it is just because of status quo bias and unwillingness to change. When choosing whether or not to use artificial grass, there is naturally much to consider, but maybe – just maybe – it is an idea and product whose time has come.
