Announcing Inaugural Reduce Your Lawn Day 

New annual event planned, aiming to raise awareness and encourage participation in adopting eco-friendly yard solutions at any scale. Reduce Your Lawn Day is promoting a shift away from traditional turf lawns. Rooted in the spirit of No Mow May, this initiative goes beyond simply refraining from mowing, instead providing better value-added alternatives and solutions. With over 40 million acres of lawn in the US, Reduce Your Lawn Day emphasizes the collective power of individuals working together to make a substantial difference. By abandoning the outdated practices of manicured lawns, we can collectively improve our planet, our communities, and ourselves.

Burlington, Vermont, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Meadows, a leading advocate for doing good through gardening, in collaboration with Kathy Jentz, author of Groundcover Revolution, proudly announce the inaugural Reduce Your Lawn Day scheduled for May 20th, 2024. This new national day is planned as an annual event aiming to raise awareness and encourage participation in adopting eco-friendly yard solutions at any scale, promoting a shift away from traditional turf lawns. 

Why Reduce Your Lawn? Traditional turf lawns, prevalent over the last two centuries, lack biodiversity, fail to support pollinators, and are often water-intensive. Reduce Your Lawn Day “is a day to step back and take stock of what you are growing in your landscape and make a conscious decision to reduce turfgrass areas” says Kathy Jentz.  

Rooted in the spirit of No Mow May, this initiative goes beyond simply refraining from mowing, instead providing better value-added alternatives. The event aims to inspire weekend-sized yard project ideas for mindfully creating food sources, habitat, and shelter for all seasons. David Mizejewski of the National Wildlife Federation emphasizes “One of the best things you can do to support birds, butterflies, bees and other pollinators is to reduce the size of your lawn by creating new garden beds filled with native plants."  

Turfgrass is the single largest irrigated crop in the country, greatly contributing to excessive water consumption. The environmental impact extends to the use of gas-powered lawn equipment, with the US alone consuming 800 million gallons of gasoline annually, resulting in a significant air pollution contribution. According to the US EPA 2020 National Emissions Inventory (NEI) Data gas-powered lawnmowers make up to 5% of total air pollution in the US. 

With over 40 million acres of lawn in the US, Reduce Your Lawn Day emphasizes the collective power of individuals working together to make a substantial difference. By abandoning the outdated practices of manicured lawns, we can collectively improve our planet, our communities, and ourselves. If half of one percent of the existing lawns in the US transitioned a portion of their turf to a sustainable alternative then 200,000 acres of beneficial habitat could be added this year.  

"We know better, so now we must do better," states Tabar Gifford, Partnership Cultivator and Master Gardener at American Meadows. "Reduce Your Lawn Day is not just an event; it's a solutions-based alternative to No Mow May, offering individuals and communities ideas for better yard solutions. The intention is this approach can be applied every year, incrementally reducing lawns in favor of beneficial alternatives.  We are excited to announce this initiative at the start of the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Tradeshow, with hopes of gathering more industry support. Let's come together and start preparing now for actions on May 20th, 2024, and beyond, as we embrace better yard solutions for a sustainable future."

For more information about Reduce Your Lawn Day, please visit reduceyourlawnday.com