from TV One News
There’s a call for a radical and fundamental rethink of parks and the grassy quarter-acre sections many Kiwis aspire to.
Auckland University of Technology’s Professor Len Gillman says it’s because of climate change.
“And most people don’t really understand how bad it’s going to get,” he said.
He’s helped write a new research paper, “Calling Time on the Imperial [our emphasis —Eds] Lawn”.
Its findings show that although lawns are often thought to capture carbon from the atmosphere, that’s not the case, once mowing, fertilising and watering are taken into account.
It says mown grass, in almost every case, is putting carbon out.
Over 20 years it could be as much as 43.9 tonnes of carbon equivalent per hectare but other estimates put it much higher.
The paper calls for change both at home and on public land, digging up any unused lawn and placing it underneath trees instead, is the answer.
“We need to be planting, we’ve got to cut emissions, that’s critical,” Gillman said.
Mown grass is “ubiquitous and everywhere”, he said.
“For example, there’s about 16 million hectares of it in the US alone, which is the size of England and Belgium combined,” he told 1News.
“Even if we planted just a third of grass in cities around the world we can absorb 6000 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over two decades, so it’s quite a lot.”
He said while lawns are desirable for many, often much of it goes unused.
Is there any limit to Greenie nuttiness? Apparently not. However, there is a case for converting some of your lawn into a home vege patch and with the way supermarket prices are skyrocketing under this government, that is quickly becoming necessary for many.
What a trout (in looks and opinions – where is NEW ZEALAND’s educational system headed with this sort of dribble).
Gillman should consult a real doctor for the right prescription for his delusional ideas. He is obviously on the wrong drugs.
Interesting statement here. “Mown grass is “ubiquitous and everywhere”, he said” One would think that an “academic” would know that ““ubiquitous and everywhere”, mean the same thing.
Happy looking fellow isn’t he? Too much carbon / petrol fumes intake while concucting, oops I mean researching this very important situation. More taxes for Gore & Co will fix the problem. Everyone knows this univesal ‘truth, right?
I see, so a lawn carbon tax is in the pipeline then? If you see men measuring your lawn you will know what’s happenning. By the way how much carbon does a Hercules aircraft produce flying from Christchurc to Antarctica and back? Just asking…
Not for the idiotic reasons stated here, but I have argued for years that non-native grass is probably the most noxious weed found in New Zealand.
One of those rare occasions I actually agreed with Prince Charles was his desire to see lawns replaced with natural habitats.
Grass offers no place for insects and birds to feed, nest and shelter. It costs us the ratepayer a fortune to maintain.
Since most pasture and urban grasslands are “exotic” in nature, they also prove impossible for New Zealand’s worms – so exotic worms were imported to replace the natives.
Overall, YES, non-native grass is a major pest species. NO, not for any reason here!
See https://coranz.org.nz/get-off-the-grass/
Research has proven that too much grass can severely impair normal brain function.
he probably smokes plenty of it