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Helps beautify the neighborhood.
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Creates a relaxing space of natural beauty. Grassy areas
quickly affect people's moods by creating feelings of serenity, privacy, thoughtfulness
or happiness. Its yearly cycles of growth
and color changes, lift human spirits and link urban inhabitants with their countryside
heritage.
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Front lawns of just eight average houses have the cooling effect of about 70 tons
of air conditioning, while the average home-size central air unit has only a 3—4 ton capacity.
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While
strict conservationists berate the lowly lawn as an expensive consumer of natural resources,
it is actually a natural provider for our ecosystem. Healthy, dense lawns absorb
rainfall six
times more effectively than a wheat field, four times better than a hay field, and prevents
runoff and erosion of our precious top soil. It also traps much of the estimated 12 million
tons of dust and dirt released into the US atmosphere annually. Lawns also purify water
entering into underground aquifers–its root mass and soil microbes act as a filter
to capture and breakdown many types of pollutants.
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Increases
real estate market value and salability. A Gallup Survey reported 62% of all US homeowners
felt investment in lawns and landscaping was as good or better than other home
improvements.
The investment recovery rate is 100% — 200% for landscape improvement, compared to a deck
or patio that will recover 40% — 70% of installation cost. Proper and well maintained landscaping
adds
15% to a home's value according to buyers.
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Recovery rates among hospitalized patients are
often quicker when their rooms view a landscaped area compared to patients with non-landscaped
views.
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Playing fields covered with dense turf have proven safer, as demonstrated by a simple
egg drop test. When a dozen raw eggs were dropped from a height of 11' onto a two-inch
thick
piece of dense turf, none broke; two thirds broke on thin turf from that height, and
from just 18", all broke on an all-weather track!
