March 31st

By Mutt Mulligan

Green Ranger says soak up your lawn’s health benefits!

April is National Lawn Care Month, which honors the green space that starts right in our own yards. It’s the perfect time for TurfMutt to join forces with his sidekick Green Ranger to remind you about the many benefits of grass.

Green Ranger is a masked patch of grass who is the foot soldier of the Outdoor Powers. Together, they battle the environmental villains, Dr. Runoff, Heat Freak, Dust Demon and Carbon Creep.

In a flash, Green Ranger waves and spreads to help create larger green spaces in our backyards, public parks and schoolyards. This green space is like “kryptonite” for the environmental villains.

In particular, grass is an environmental wizard. It traps carbon dioxide, produces oxygen, dissipates heat, prevents soil erosion, and captures and filters rainwater as well as dust and particulate matter.

But that’s not all. Turns out, getting outside for a little dose of Vitamin G(rass) is good for our health and well-being, too.

Mission: Getting Healthy by Getting Outdoors and Enjoying Your Yard

Green Ranger and TurfMutt urge everyone to get outside and enjoy their living landscapes. Did you know:

• Experiencing nature makes us generally happier, healthier people, says research from the Annual Review of Environment and Resources.
• People living on streets with more trees had a boost in heart and metabolic health, show multiple researchers from the University of Chicago, Indiana University, the University of Toronto and others.
• Children’s stress levels fall within minutes of seeing green spaces, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• School children with more exposure to the outdoors also perform better on cognitive testing, concluded a study conducted by Barcelona’s Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology.
• Outdoor play increases fitness levels and builds active, healthy bodies, an important strategy in helping the one in three American kids who are obese get fit. Combined, trees and grass foster activities such as recreation.
• Mycobacterium vaccae, a fancy name for bacteria in soil, mirrors the effect on neurons that drugs like Prozac provide. It stimulates serotonin production, which makes us relaxed and happier.
• Other research by University of Exeter in the U.K. found people moving to greener areas experienced an immediate improvement in mental health that was sustained for at least three years.

Want to learn more about your living landscapes, and their importance for our health, environment and lifestyle? Go to www.LivingLandscapesMatter.com.