How Suburban Lawns Can Fight Climate Change

If there's only a few things you should know about carbon dioxide, know that it is a naturally occurring chemical compound, one that has been produced at very high rates due to the burning of fuels like coal and gasoline, and that high concentrations of it are exacerbating climate change. So it's great that plants use carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis, absorbing CO2 and emitting oxygen. This, it's becoming increasingly clear, is one of many reasons trees are literally valuable assets in CO2-emitting urban areas.

But trees aren't our only aides from the plant kingdom. According to new research from UC Santa Barbara and the University of Minnesota, carbon dioxide is also sucked up by other kinds of urban greenery, including the alternately maligned and American-Dreamed front lawn. That green symbol of suburban excess may actually be helping out the planet.