You may look at your neighbor's vibrant lawn with envy, but their secret to the best grass in the neighborhood may not be from hours of hard work. One Redditor exposed a bizarre technique some people use to achieve the perfect lawn: grass paint.
In a popular post, the user shares an article explaining an odd landscaping trend in which people are painting their lawns green. Instead of using loads of water and money on attaining the perfect lawn, people are hiring landscapers to paint dormant, brown grass green.
"This is ridiculous," the Redditor writes in their post.
Depending on how it's done, this solution is technically not bad for the environment. Many landscaping companies allege that their grass paint is made from nontoxic and biodegradable ingredients — and can help reduce water use.
But in their post, the Redditor highlights a different kind of problem.
Having a grass lawn is both expensive and unsustainable, and Redditors are sharing how going to great lengths to achieve the "perfect" lawn can be problematic, especially when there are easier, superior alternatives.
Upkeep for grass lawns increases harmful carbon pollution, wastes water, pollutes ecosystems and reduces biodiversity. While grass does remove carbon from the atmosphere, the carbon costs from its maintenance are four times higher than the amount of carbon absorbed by grass lawns.
Using a gas-powered lawn mower for an hour generates eleven times more pollution than the average car in the same amount of time. Lawn care also introduces chemicals from fertilizer into the environment and wastes hundreds of gallons of water.
Grass lawns are not the ideal use of your green space, and this Reddit post highlights how going to extreme lengths to achieve the greenest lawn in the neighborhood is not optimal for your wallet or the environment.
Many are switching to native plants and grasses, ornamental grasses, moss, clover, or flower and shrub beds instead. These alternatives will likely stay greener than your grass lawn ever could — even without paint.
Reddit users were appalled in the comment section at the extremes some people go to attain the greenest lawn possible.
One Redditor writes, "Might just be me, but if you need to paint your lawn, you probably shouldn't have that type of 'lawn.'"
"People need to start converting to clover lawns if they absolutely must mono-crop their front yard," another user adds.
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