Is My Lawn Bad for the Climate?

What It Covers

Ecologist Peter Grof explains how grass lawns impact climate through carbon sequestration and cooling effects, while offering practical alternatives like xeriscaping for drought-prone regions and strategies to make existing lawns more climate-friendly.

Key Questions Answered

• •Lawn carbon balance: Grass lawns sequester significant carbon in soil and vegetation compared to agricultural fields, though less than native prairies. The net carbon balance remains positive even when accounting for fertilizer, gas mowers, and maintenance inputs.
• •Urban cooling effect: Lawns function as natural heat pumps through evapotranspiration, pulling heat from air and soil into water vapor. This cooling capacity becomes increasingly valuable as cities face rising temperatures from climate change and helps reduce air conditioning demand.
• •Minimal maintenance approach: Skip fertilizers and pesticides entirely, participate in no-mow May to support pollinators, and adopt the landscape mullet strategy—maintaining front yards for neighborhood aesthetics while letting backyards grow wilder to reduce carbon emissions and increase biodiversity.
• •Drought alternatives: Replace water-intensive grass with xeriscaping using native drought-tolerant trees, shrubs, and gravel groundcover rather than plastic turf. Artificial turf reaches 200 degrees Fahrenheit, increases neighborhood temperatures, provides zero carbon sequestration, and blocks stormwater infiltration like concrete.