How to Reduce a Lawn for Environmental Reasons

Some people look at a lawn and see a beautiful patch of earth; others see an environmental hazard, a waste of perfectly good land and resources. Every lawn requires water to keep it alive and gasoline to power the mowers that trim it. Some lawns also require the use of herbicides and insecticides, both of which seep into the ground and contaminate it with chemicals. You can reduce the impact your lawn has on the environment by reducing its size and replacing the grass with bricks or other permanent decorations.

Roll of black plastic
Bricks
Scissors
Shovel
Rake
Mulch
Stones

Instructions

- 1
  Unroll black plastic over the parts of the lawn you want to get rid of. Consider how the lawn will look if you're only removing parts of it; removing random sections of grass, for example, will look very bad. Cut the plastic from the roll using scissors. Secure the plastic using bricks.
- 2
  Remove the plastic in six months. Recycle it at a recycling station.
- 3
  Break up the ground using a shovel and turn the soil to bury the matted, dead grass.
- 4
  Cover the ground with a substance, such as stones or mulch, to prevent plant regrowth. Smooth the dirt out using a rake so that it appears level, then apply your cover. Pour mulch onto the dirt or onto black plastic, for example, then level it out with a rake. You can also cover the ground with small stones, or use larger stones or bricks to form walkways. Dig a hole in the dirt and insert the stone if you want it level with the ground's surface, or place it on the patch of earth wherever you'd like.

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