I remember growing up in Florida, you'd occasionally see some old duffer give up on his front yard completely. He'd rip out all the turf, pour concrete and paint it green. Voila! A solution made of paint and protest. As our summer in the northwest wanes, I know many of us have turned to our turf with trepidation and yes, mulled over the unthinkable: turf a la astro or a faux field of green. Those new artificial grass products pose a quandary for eco-minded landscape professionals and for organically minded consumers. It distills down to "It's fake, but look great vs. it's real but looks terrible". You've seen the faux stuff, yes, but have you seen it lately? Oh, it's good. The best local vendor, "Dreamturf" sports it in three styles, including a new "tri-color" pattern with just a hint of (dead grass?) tan that looks just natural enough not to throw off the neighbors.
The new artificial turf looks fabulous and it's quite a little project going in, with all the subgrade prep of a new patio. After the investment and all the work, is it "eco" or (I shudder to use the over-used word), "sustainable"? At first blush it wouldn't seem so. It's plastic and imported, but on the ecologically positive side, artificial turf doesn't need watering at all and won't contribute to nitrogen and phosphorus runoff, as it doesn't require fertilizer. No mowing either, so no air pollution and fossil fuels wasted using the Toro or Snapper...and no weed killer. Some have argued that water permeating the "turf" may be tainted or that there may be inhalation issues, but neither has proven true. Looking at it at a larger scale, our small yards won't compare to large sports fields, but it is enlightening to note that a typical natural grass football field may require up to 3,000,000 gallons of water per year. As the organic approach hasn't yet reached much of the sports establishment, these fields can absorb over 90,000,000 pounds of herbicide as well as 1,400,000,000 pounds of commercially produced synthetic fertilizer. Think of that not in terms of a large sports complex, but in terms of your larger neighborhood or region. In King County, the USGS did a study years ago that showed a significant spike in chemical levels in local streams in spring, an uptick that coincides with the spring lawn chemical sales push from the big box stores. As an aside, it's my opinion that lawn chemical sales have spiraled out of control and that serious regulation is needed to restrict phosphorus runoff...but that's another story.
Which brings us back to artificial turf.... what's not to love? I don't know. One might argue that there's a carbon offset problem, as trees are wasted in the manufacturing and it's boated in from China, but that might be nitpicking. In the end, these new products sure look smooth and green...but it's difficult for some to make the leap. Maybe it's the fact that you won't see the robins poke around for worms. For me, I think if there were no dandelions, I'd probably miss them after all.
Read more: Thoughts on turf — a later look at artificial turf, and what King County’s impermeable-surface limits mean for it.
