With summer fast approaching the familiar buzz of lawn mowers is in the air, but this summer has brought a warning from experts that mowing the grass may be bad for the environment.
The new research warning mowing Auckland's grasslands, which make up to 20 per cent of the land, could be hurting the environment.
"One person mowing the lawn is not that bad, but when we get that over large areas of a city.
"In Auckland alone that's about 100 to 200 square kilometres of area mowed every two to three weeks, that's an awful lot of emissions," senior lecturer at Auckland University Bruce Burns said.
Mr Burns also told 1 NEWS it's not just the emissions that are environmentally unfriendly, but that freshly cut grass smell is no good either.
"The act of mowing cuts through the leaf of the grass, exposing cells. There are some organic compounds in those cells that then volatilise into the air.
"They can mix with some other compounds in the air and form pollutants or air pollution chemicals," he said.
It isn't all doom and gloom though, with experts saying there are alternatives to help cut down on emissions, including artificial lawns and growing a wildflower mini-meadow instead of a traditional lawn.
These tips meaning Kiwis might have more time to enjoy the long hot summer forecast for the country.
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