A picture perfect fall day in Central Texas means blue skies, a cool breeze and a green lawn.
Chances are, your yard is not so green, and it's leaving a huge carbon foot print.
"When we combine things like use of gasoline for lawn mowers, maintenance -- and if you think about fertilizer and water -- you can see doing landscape right, could mean massive savings," said Dr. Mark Simmons.
Americans spend about $5 billion on fertilizer each year and use about 5 billion gallons on gasoline just to mow yards.
Dr. Mark Simmons of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is one of many researchers who created a plan of action to help cities, companies and your yard become more environmentally friendly.
You can start by dramatically reducing water, pesticides and fertilizer in your own yard by using native grasses, planets and trees. That way you're going green and saving money, too.
"Doing one yard, doing a green roof, doing one road sign, may not be enough. But if you start spreading that approach to the landscape across the city you could make a significant difference," Dr. Simmons said.
It's a difference not only in the pocket book, but -- if done right -- a big difference for hot Central Texas Summers as well.
"We can even cool cities down, a landscape done right can actually improve lower summer day time temps," he said.
It all comes down to being green, and that means being better stewards of our planet, and your yard can play a big part.
"With climate change, we're worried about carbon dioxide in the air, again doing landscaping correctly if we improve the amount of biomass and plants on a site, we can pull in some of the carbon and unlocking it back in the landscape. One yard at a time," Simmons said.
For more information: www.sustainablesites.org
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