Got Lawn?

This image is a detail of a NASA-generated map that attempts to show how common lawns are across the country, particularly in and around urban areas, as well as their impact on water and carbon cycles. The amount of lawn in Long Island is just amazing, looking about the same as the diagonal swath of lawn in New Jersey. The scientists who generated the map contend "that more surface area is devoted to lawns than to any other single irrigated crop in the country. For example, lawns appear to cover more than three times the number of acres that irrigated corn covers."

While none of this is a huge shock to any American (or foreigner, for that matter), the power of maps to help people see the scope and impact (more the former than the latter, in this case) of something makes this image worth sharing.

"This color-coded map shows satellite-derived estimates of the fractional turf grass (lawn) area across the United States in shades of green. Areas where a large fraction of the land surface is lawn-covered are deepest green, while locations where the lawns cover a very small (or no) fraction of the land surface are lightest green or white." [Source]

(via The Dirt)