• givesomefucks@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 month ago

    I saw the other day that traditional grass isn’t much better than pavement at cooling down urban areas.

    Compare to native plants it also makes flooding and poor water retention bigger problems as well.

    We need less “parks” and more just oasis of untouched nature. A random city block where no people go into and nature is allowed to do what it wants would drastically lower surrounding temperature.

    • CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 month ago

      50% of every significant habitat should be untouched by humans. Our parks, farms, industry and communities must all be contained in the other 50%, as a rough guideline.

    • eleitl@lemmy.zipOPM
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      I have a grass roof – with trees on it, and it absolutely cools, especially when misted with water.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 month ago

        I don’t know a single human that requires a closely mown lawn of 100% grass to survive…

        But even just mowing at 4ish inches, spreading clover, and not spraying for “weeds” turns your lawn into a habitat for the vital species every human does require…

        Like, just that’s enough to make a huge difference. If you’re in an urban area and can let even a small shared border with a neighbor grow up naturally… Now you’re really cooking

        Seriously though, if the sun can’t hit the dirt, it makes a huge fucking difference. Even if it hits plants a few inches above the dirt.

        Closely mown grass doesn’t get the job done at blocking the sun, and shallow roots means flooding. The two combined compound each other.