What’s greener than a golf course? Emerald, mint and every-shade-of-green-in-between stretch sublimely to the horizon. There is no doubt of its beauty.
In fact, up to 70% of course-side residents enjoy the view more than playing the actual game of golf. But the golf course, which has long been the greenest symbol in our suburban vernacular, just isn’t very eco-friendly.
National Geographic estimates that a typical course generates an astounding amount of pollution from fertilizers and insecticides. And an average golf course uses as much water as a small town.
Fortunately though, Audubon International has created an eco-friendly certification program for golf courses as part of its mission to assist in the “responsible management of land, water, wildlife and natural resources.”
Audubon reports that nearly 80% of the more than 15,000 golf courses in the United States are located in urban or suburban areas. When golf courses are properly designed, constructed and managed, they can provide immense benefits to the surrounding—and increasingly urbanized—ecosystems. Through services such as storm water retention, runoff filtration, urban wildlife habitat, wildlife corridors and heat island effect reduction, wildlife can flourish near a golf course.
Currently, the North Shore has two golf courses that are Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuaries:
- North Shore Country Club, Glenview
- Skokie Country Club, Glencoe
Please help Make It Better on the North Shore, by encouraging the many other courses to adopt more environmentally sound practices, too.
