Assessing Environmental Impacts Among Management Choices for Home Lawn Care: A Method to Improve and Promote Sustainable Turf Practices.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has identified a goal to make sustainability the next level of environmental protection.   Achieving sustainability is a multifaceted endeavor that requires development of scientifically backed practices, advancements in technology, and most importantly an implementation of beneficial management practices by the shareholders.  To promote sustainable turfgrass management practices for the public home lawn care community, methods are needed to quantify the environmental impact among management choices.  The goal of this study was to develop a simple approach that can be adapted to an individual home owner’s situation and allow them to assess the extent alternative management methods would reduce their carbon footprint and environmental impacts.   To accomplish our objective a strategy was developed to conduct comparisons of carbon footprint, financial cost, and environmental impacts among management choices.  The management practices considered includes the choice of natural and synthetic fertilizers, gasoline and electric powered lawn equipment, pesticide use, and irrigation practices.  The results include a comparison of both “Conventional” and “Green” lawn management strategies in two locations of the United States.  Our model offers a tool to address sustainability for home lawn care and has the potential to serve as an important extension resource to implement the advancements of turfgrass science through public education.