Every year, members of the National Association of Landscape Professionals celebrate National Lawn Care Month in April in a combined effort to educate consumers of the ecological benefits of maintaining a healthy lawn.

Many homeowners hire landscape professionals to keep their properties looking their best, to save time, and to increase curb appeal and property values. Did you know that hiring landscape professionals to promote a healthy lawn also has positive impacts on climate change? Here are just a few ways:

• Healthy lawns filters dust, absorb pollutants, and reduce erosion; and provide oxygen. In fact, a 50-foot by 50-foot yard provides enough oxygen to sustain a family of four for one year!
• Turfgrasses slow down the speed and reduce the force of flowing water, allowing more of it to be absorbed into the soil to the benefit of groundwater reserves. Also, any settlement that has been picked up by water is invariably trapped within the stand of turfgrass. This prevents many of the pollutants and other chemicals that rain water gathers from ending up in our water system; instead they go in the soil where they can be broken down safely. 
• Turfgrass is excellent at capturing carbon and turning it into organic matter that improves soil quality. Keep your lawn healthy with proper fertilization and weed control to capture more carbon and filter stormwater. If you aren’t sure how to improve your soil condition or build stronger turfgrass, a lawn care professional can help determine your yard’s care plan.
• Turfgrass, like that found in our lawns, is much cooler than asphalt or cement, acting as an “air conditioner” for the surrounding area (lawns can be more than 20 degrees cooler than urban asphalt “heat islands”).
• Healthy turfgrass has many miles of fibrous roots that hold soil and filter rainwater. (National Arboretum Grass Roots Project)  A single grass plant can have more than 300 miles of roots.