Had a walk around the spring home and garden show at the Mac Park sports and events centre today. Lots of interesting and good booths. One that particularly jumped out, given our community conversation on water metres and pesticide use, was a company called Synlawn.
These folks offer all sorts of artificial grass. Initially, this sounded quite icky and wrong to me, but after giving some of their samples the feel test, I think this stuff feels pretty much like the real thing.
Apparently, about 3 times more to install, but over times, a money saver. No water, pesticides, OR MOWING needed. I know how much most folks love mowing.
These types of products might offer a good meeting point between those who want green lawns and more money in their pocket, and those who want to reduce water and pesticide use. Even more beneficial perhaps for those struggling with all these concerns all at once.
Questions that arise for me...
1. How much petroleum went into the manufacture of the 'lawn'?
2. Where was it manufactured and how much petroleum went into getting it from factory to here?
3. How much habitat does it provide for beneficial critters?
4. Is there 'really' a net gain for the environment?
Posted by: Colin | April 21, 2008 at 05:32 PM
I would share those questions, but also ask...
-- What chemicals are seeping into the soil from the materials used to create the synthetic lawn?
-- Are these chemicals better or worse than pesticides?
-- Do these products contain chemicals that will affect our health such as the Bisephenol-A that's in the news these days?
I'm not a lawn fan. I don't mind having a small, simple lawn for the sake of kids or pets, sporting, etc is fine. For most homes I find them to waste of valuable resources and time.
Posted by: Mickael Maddison | April 25, 2008 at 11:11 AM