I am surprised at 1 in 10. My straw pole of houses around me and those I walk past would indicate much lower than that. However the one house I know of has a turned a smallish section at the side of their house to astro turf for their kids to play on, the rest is still lawn. So I wonder if there are more like this in back gardens you don't see, play areas that used to be bark (ours was) or something else (a path etc) now using some artificial grass. So maybe not 1 in 10 gardens converted over but 1 in 10 have some, which would make more sense and not be as dramatic.
The problem is not that people buy it. The problem is that retailers sell it. We could really improve the environment of the future by being stricter about industry actions now. What is not made cannot be used and does not need disposing of at the end of its life.
This seems like a really pointless discussion. I agree/ disagree there are more than/less than 1 in 10. The only thing we know, is that plastic grass is bad.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
There's a lot of it that doesn't look like plastic grass now, so there's probably more than is immediately obvious. Often people use it in a way that you couldn't with real grass (covering steps etc with no colour variation), but those who don't and who use it carefully can easily get away with poisoning the environment whilst looking natural.
I assume the figure includes 'some' rather than wall to wall plastic, so a plastic front garden and a grass back, or vice versa, would count as a household with plastic grass. Because that's what it is.
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
In an eight house block around my house three have plastic grass one of which must have had twenty to thirty tons of garden soil removed to take the slope out of his garden all of these people are in the same age range in their late thirties early forties whether that makes any difference. On moving in two of the house owners had multiple extensions built the third already was extended which made the garden very small, whether that indicates anything I don't know. We have to accept that the majority of people don't like gardening, once when I told someone that I worked with that I wanted to get home before it rained so that I could apply feed to my grass he looked at me gone out, his main interest was getting away to the coast with his paraglider cutting his grass was nothing more than an inconvenience to him and he couldn't understand why anyone would feed the grass. I would expect that as people have plastic grass laid and their friends see how much work it takes away from their busy lives when they can afford it they too will want to have plastic grass in their own gardens. Personally I don't consider it as plastic grass it's just plastic.
There is a lot of hate for plastic grass here but it can have its uses. Plastic is not ecologically friendly and I am against single use plastic and all that unnecessary plastic wrapping but a small amount of plastic grass to cover an area of ugly concrete is I think, acceptable. The rest of our garden is full of real grass and flowers and wildlife, no pesticides. Covering large areas with plastic grass insteading of a lawn is not.
It also needs maintenance. The small bit over our septic tank has to be swept regularly. It gets messy with leaves, pigeon poo etc. It would be easier to mow.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Oh I bet Hosta would believe it if it came out of Monty's mouth. Just look at listings of propertiea for sale, you will find a lot of plastic grass and even smallish plots being totally taken over by decking and slabs without any consideration for the effects to local rainwater movement and absorption. That's in South London where I'm based, can't imagine in rural locations it will be as prevalent a trend for obvious reasons.
Of course the obvious question is how many people that watch GW actually have it, my guess would be quite a tiny minority, so really they are preaching to the converted which is ultimately pointless. As in so many environmental campaigns we have to inform the people that don't understand the consequences it has but they are tricky to reach. Believe me, my first job was for the WWF in Athens and getting people on board is the hardest thing. But as usual with those things we hope younger people are more curious and do look into things their parents do without any thought at all.
I suppose all of us in small ways can advise friends and relatives about the harm to soil quality plastic grass and excessive use of weed membranes have and maybe change some minds as most wouldn't love the idea their soil becomes dead because of "convenience". Not many realise as obviously it's convenient to the point of sale to not mention any of those things. It's all perfection, convenience and joy 🤣
So we can all feel smug we are not in Arit's stat because we appreciate the environment around us, but it has largely zero effect as campaigning goes.
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So I wonder if there are more like this in back gardens you don't see, play areas that used to be bark (ours was) or something else (a path etc) now using some artificial grass. So maybe not 1 in 10 gardens converted over but 1 in 10 have some, which would make more sense and not be as dramatic.
The only thing we know, is that plastic grass is bad.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
I assume the figure includes 'some' rather than wall to wall plastic, so a plastic front garden and a grass back, or vice versa, would count as a household with plastic grass. Because that's what it is.
They have grass growing on them.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
It also needs maintenance. The small bit over our septic tank has to be swept regularly. It gets messy with leaves, pigeon poo etc. It would be easier to mow.
Of course the obvious question is how many people that watch GW actually have it, my guess would be quite a tiny minority, so really they are preaching to the converted which is ultimately pointless. As in so many environmental campaigns we have to inform the people that don't understand the consequences it has but they are tricky to reach. Believe me, my first job was for the WWF in Athens and getting people on board is the hardest thing. But as usual with those things we hope younger people are more curious and do look into things their parents do without any thought at all.
I suppose all of us in small ways can advise friends and relatives about the harm to soil quality plastic grass and excessive use of weed membranes have and maybe change some minds as most wouldn't love the idea their soil becomes dead because of "convenience". Not many realise as obviously it's convenient to the point of sale to not mention any of those things. It's all perfection, convenience and joy 🤣
So we can all feel smug we are not in Arit's stat because we appreciate the environment around us, but it has largely zero effect as campaigning goes.