Global Warming

It’s a long history that the earth has warmed and cooled over a period of time. But now the climate has changed drastically because of human activities. There has been a significant change in the sunlight due to the shift in the orbit. Global warming as we know is the significant rise in the earth’s surface temperature due to the rise in the greenhouse gas released by people burning fossil fuels.

The current global warming is not natural because of the irrational activities of the human population.

Lawns in our day today life

Nowadays lawns are used along with all the built structures mainly for landscaping and aesthetic purposes. There are different types of laws depending upon the design. Lawns help us to create an open green space around us, hence enhancing the overall look of the space.

Homes, apartments, business buildings, and offices all have lawns surrounding them. There are substantial lawn sections in many city parks. Depending on the continent and the sport, the specialized terms turf, pitch, field, or green may be used in informal settings.

A managed grassy area is referred to as a “lawn,” a phrase that has been around since at least the 16th century. In various parts of the world, the lawn has become culturally embedded as an element of the ideal domestic aesthetic as a result of suburbanization. However, people are becoming more aware of this ideal’s detrimental effects on the environment. In some areas where there are water shortages, local government officials are promoting grass clones as a way to save water. 

Lawns Contribution to Global Warming

Grass is a plant that absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. We can sequester carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, to help keep it out of the atmosphere. But maintaining turfgrass requires a lot of energy; just consider how much fossil fuel is used when you mow, water, and fertilize. In fact, the net balance between emissions and absorption may show that lawns emit more greenhouse gases than they sequester.

We determined the source/sink potential of a 4-hectare (9.88 acres) site in three Florida towns using actual data from measurements of trees located on various land use types in Florida (such as parks, residential yards, and natural urban remains) (Gainesville, Orlando, Miami). Only the values of the above-ground vegetation

The lesson here is that well-kept lawns and trees are preferable to more natural places that require little upkeep. If there are more lawns than trees, the balance may tip toward carbon dioxide emissions (e.g., older residential areas in Miami-Dade). It’s important to remember that we only considered vegetative surfaces when calculating the impact. We simplified the calculations by leaving out the carbon costs associated with producing and maintaining the power equipment as well as the carbon costs associated with sod production and transportation. In particular, we did not account for the nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer applications.

After fertiliser and/or irrigation, urban turfgrass often emits nitrous oxide. Since nitrous oxide has a 300-fold greater capacity to absorb heat than carbon dioxide, it has a substantially higher global warming potential (GWP). City parks with high maintenance requirements may have far greater consequences than those mentioned here due to these unmeasured factors. As a result, cities with plenty of groomed, fertilised, and irrigated lawns as well as trimmed shrubs and trees may actually be sources of carbon dioxide rather than sinks.

These carbon dioxide emissions are not insignificant; for instance, a Miami-Dade greenspace measuring 4 hectares and having 85% of its surface covered in grass would produce more than 11 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

These above-ground figures should be viewed as a preliminary look at the potential carbon worth of urban greenspace because below-ground soil carbon sequestration could not be computed, preventing complete carbon credit from being assessed. Natural greenspaces in and around cities that require little to no upkeep now appear to be the greatest option for sequestering carbon dioxide.

Natural urban greenspaces also preserve biodiversity and reduce stormwater runoff and fertiliser use, among other advantages. Overall, preserving urban open space might help Florida’s carbon footprint be smaller, although well-kept urban greenspace might be seen as a source of greenhouse emissions. These findings suggest that if towns want to reduce their carbon impact, developers will need to provide a justification for building such high-maintenance parks if they want to use greenspaces as carbon dioxide sinks and may even need to consider mitigating their effects.

Effective Measures

We started importing European turf grasses in the previous century, and ever since then, they have been a significant part of American yards. But because these grasses are not native to our environment and climate, we must use mowers, blowers, more water, fertilisers, herbicides, and pesticides to maintain their health. These procedures are not only costly and time-consuming, but they also harm our soil, the groundwater, and our animals. They also add noise and contaminants to our air. Change is needed now.

Some of the sustainable measures that can followed are as follows: –

·        Keep the lawn natural, allow flowers and weeds to grow instead of removing them away.

·        Reduce the size of the lawn, use a considerable amount required for your day-to-day activities.

·        Use sustainable grass species like drought resistant grass and no mow grass.

·        Replace the spaces with more plantings.

·        Replace with ground covers, meadows, xeriscape and rain garden.

Conclusion

It’s high time that we start conserving our earth and its resources. Over the past years, there have been significant changes that cannot be reversed coz of human activities. Global warming can be reversed if adequate measures are taken to reduce the coz if it. Lawns are a good recreational space when it comes to residential, commercial, and institutional buildings.

Overuse of anything in an unnatural manner can lead to the release of hazardous gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, etc which can lead to global warming. If adequate measures are taken to ensure that the lawns are taken care of in the right way with adequate replacements, then we can reduce the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere leading to global warming. Hence making the world a better place to live!!