Lawn care with a conscience has arrived

  • Sarah Jackson
  • Tuesday, April 8, 2008 11:16am
  • Life

Owning a turf-grass lawn isn’t exactly green.

Though most lawns only require about an inch of water a week during the dry season, they are major suckers of resources when you consider the fertilizer, compost, weed-control measures and mowing required.

That said, our precious lawns, entrenched in Western culture since at least the Renaissance, aren’t going away.

We looooove them.

(Most of my postage-stamp-size yard is covered in turf grass, though I am slowing cutting into it with garden beds as my husband permits.)

If you want to be greener and have a lawn, however, there is something really cool you can do.

Clean Air Lawn Care, a Fort Collins, Colo.-based business recently featured in The Herald, is making fast inroads in the Puget Sound area, providing a lawn service using green energy.

Clean Air, which serves Snohomish County as far north as Marysville, uses electric- and biodiesel-powered equipment. Solar panels, mounted into the service trucks, charge much of the equipment.

Because some of the equipment needs to be plugged in at night, the company purchases carbon-offset credits as part of its goal to be a carbon-neutral business.

As writer Debra Smith put it: It’s a lawn-care service “even a Prius-driving, carbon-conscious customer could use without guilt.”

Of course, there are greener shades of green.

This season, if you’re ready to part with your lawn, you might consider replacing all or parts of it with a drought-tolerant landscape of native plants, a process called naturescaping.

You’ll use less resources and attract birds and other cool wildlife.

You might also check out “How to Get Your Lawn Off Grass” for ideas about greener yard care.

Have you had success with naturescaping? Have you tried Clean Air’s services yet?

Please comment below or write me here with details. I’d love to hear your stories.

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