Olivia Rooke-Devoy: PhD candidate says over-mowing is destroying the lawn environment

University of Auckland PhD candidate Olivia Rooke-Devoy has offered a 'low-mow' alternative to protect the lawn environment. 

She claims that over-mowing is letting off too much CO-2, and destroying the habitats of insects and bees. 

Rooke-Devoy told Heather du Plessis-Allan it's an 'environmental disaster'.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now here are some numbers for you. A third of
Auckland is covered in lawn. Auckland has spent one hundred
and thirty one million dollars every year looking after their lawns.
Seven thousand people in this country are hurt just mowing
their lawns every year and that costs the country twelve
point six million dollars? Is there a better way of
doing this all? Olivia rook de Voye is a PhD
candidate at Auckland University and with US high.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Olivia, Hi, here the thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Yeah, go on, then is there a better way?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
The answer to that is it's complex. Of course, I
can't give you a straight answer. I've been studying lawns
for many years now. Yeah, and basically they're in an
environmental disaster. We've got, Yeah, they huge amounts of chemical
inputs mowing their very low biodversity, so they're not offering

(00:52):
anything to the environment. And of course we're spending so
much time and doing ourselves maintaining them.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Oh so when you say they're bad for the environment,
in part, it's because we're mowing them, and then we're
mowing them with the petrol, and then we're letting off
all the co two. Is that part of the problem.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yes, that's correct, And we're also getting rid of anything
that could grow there that would contribute to pollinators, foraging birds,
anything that could exist in these spaces. They're really not
getting a chance. They're basically operating like green carpets at
the moment.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Okay, well what I mean, what do you do? Because
you do need a place for the kids to sort
of play and if they fall over, they're not going
to give themselves an enormous concussion and have to go
to hospital.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, yeah, it's so true. So the way I've approached
lawns and auckland especially is it's a pragmatic ecology. We
need to be looking at the spaces that we aren't using,
that perhaps aren't ideal for sports. We don't play cricket
on them, and whether those are performing the way.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
They should, well, what should we do?

Speaker 2 (01:44):
So the easiest answer, the first thing I thought, is well,
can we reduce and bowing?

Speaker 1 (01:49):
I knew you were going to do. Stop you you're
doing that? And will you tell us? And then then
before you know it, it looks like a shandy town and
roomy era. Can't do that?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Oh, that's I've had that feedback, and I've also had
people tell me they love the wildness that's been brought back,
that they're suddenly seeing insects they've not seen for years.
And the way to approach an unknown lawn is it's
not no mo, it's lomo. So you mo once a year,
you maintain the edges, You make sure people know it's
still cared for, that it's your lawn.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
How long does it ghettle of you in a year.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Depending on your lawn. In Auckland, we've got the cursed
Caiku grass which performs very well here and we'll take
over anywhere you let it take over. Caiku you can
get up to knee height in a year as it
just gets denser. If you have different grasses, they'll get
taller and whispy. A. It all depends on the lawn
you've got yourself.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Hmm, okay, all right now, just a question, right, so
bring I love the bees. I want the bees there,
and I want all the little insects to have a
fantastic time. Can we not just provide for them with hedges?

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yes, So you have to view your lawn as part
of the environment. It's in it's not just part of
your house. It's not an extension of your house. It's
part of the ecosystem. So you need the flowering hedges,
you need the flowering lawn plants, you need the connectivity
across the mosaic of lawns across the not just New Zealand,

(03:09):
the world, and that way you're going to increase the
biodiversity and the insects. You can't view it as a
very binary justice.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Justice Olivia, Thank you, Olivia Rook DUVOI Auckland University Faculty
of Science. Have a friend who planted wildflowers. Actually, I
mean they had a lawn like I still had normal
person's lawn, but they did do the wildflower garden. It
was actually quite nice and I actually think I could
be into that whilst still mowing the lawn. Actually, what
am I talking about. I don't have a lawn. I've
got fake ross.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
For more from Heather Duplessy, Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
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