Turf grass almost spoiled my Thanksgiving. Allow me to explain.

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I drove to my grandma’s New York City apartment this Thanksgiving expecting to eat my favorite vegan loaf and watch my uncles drink one-too-many glasses of red wine. Instead, I found myself engaged in a dynamic conversation with my cousin about turf versus grass lawns. 

It all began with dessert. This Thanksgiving, my aunt dished out more than apple pie; she also dished out her excitement about the turf she recently installed to replace the grass in her backyard. 

My cousin was all in, responding quickly saying “That’s great! Turf is so much more environmentally beneficial than grass.” I answered defensively, arguing “That is so not true.” We went back and forth for who knows how long. It had never taken me this long to finish one slice of apple pie. 

My aunt, who is among the lucky few with a backyard in Manhattan, replaced her grass lawn with turf when she realized she could have the perfect lawn without the maintenance. With turf, my cousin asserted, you don’t use water or pesticides. 

Turf champions have been making these same arguments for a decade. Among other things, they see turf lawns as a way to fight drought, lower maintenance costs, and eliminate pesticide usage.

Pausing mid-bite, I panicked, suddenly doubting myself. My cousin had a point, grass lawns are far from perfect. But even grass provides greater benefits than turf, right?  I was right, right?

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Despite my cousin’s enthusiasm for turf lawns, I countered her arguments with the concerns that environmental scientists and landscape architects have long raised. 

In case you ever need to engage in the contentious grass versus turf debate at your Thanksgiving table, here are four things you need to know:

1. Turf is not alive. Nothing lives in turf. Grass and soil, however, is alive, home to beneficial bacteria, microbes, insects, and more.
2. Turf affects runoff. Made mostly of petroleum-based plastic products, turf confines heat during the day and traps it through the night, causing runoff water to leave turf hotter than it would grass, a harmful condition for aquatic ecosystems. 
3. Turf is not biodegradable. Following its average lifespan of 15 years, turf ends up in a landfill. 
4. Turf won’t stay green forever. Not only does turf come with a plethora of environmental problems, it also carries aesthetic issues. In other words, even your maintenance- free, green, neatly trimmed turf will turn yellow with time.  Just wait.

Grass lawns are not environmentally beneficial, but turf grass provides even fewer environmental benefits.

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My last bite of apple pie would have been just a little bit sweeter had I been able to make this argument Thanksgiving night. But now, I am ready for that next family meal.