The greenest spring yet?

With spring sprung, and hybrid on the tip of everyone's tongue, I thought this would be a terrific time to review lawn mowing.

First of all, let's get a few things straight, shall we?

1. I hate lawn mowers. The only thing I like about them is when they shut off.

2. I hate pollution. Who really likes polluting anyway?

3. I am cheap. 

With those things in mind, I took a look at our lawn mower situation. I am lucky, in that I have two lawn mowers at my disposal. Some years ago, a friend gave me a tired rechargeable Toro push mower that I spruced up and have been enjoying ever since. Previously, all I had was a loud, stinky riding lawn mower. Well, that hulk of steel stopped working properly last year when it spewed a belt into the neighbors yard, and I had to stop ten times to inflate the tires while mowing the yard once. I was not sorry to see it turn off for the last time.

This year, I plan on purchasing a new Hand Reel Mower. What is a reel mower? Well, they are basically that old non motorized push mower you saw in the backyard of some codgers house when you were a kid. It didn't get used much, and was real rusty. Looked like the kind of thing that could do a real bangup job of shredding your sisters dolls. But today's reel mowers are different, they don't need as much sharpening, they are lighter, and they have some safety gaurds, usually. This doesn't mean it won't still shred dolls though. Let's look into it a bit more. 

Reel mowers do a superior job of cutting because they shear the grass rather than tear it as a rotary mower does, causing tip browning. Great, though I wasn't overly concerned with the immediate appearance of my lawn, I guess this is good. My neighbors will be pleased. I won't be replacing the battery powered mower yet, but since it's range is limited, I think I can make up for the difference with a reel mower. Time will tell, but I am willing to try.

According to peoplepoweredmachines.com, ordinary gas lawn mowers are terrible! Simply put, they are just disgusting. You may feel bad about driving your car to the store for a pint of ice cream, but these have that frivolous trip beat hands down! For example, peoplepoweremachines (PPM, for short) says that "A conventional lawn mower pollutes as much in an hour as 40 late model cars (or as much as as much air pollution as driving a car for 100 miles)." 

Or, for those of us who like pictures: 

Holy moly.

 Here is a site that can estimate some mowers pollution capabilities: http://www.etcentre.org:8080/cgi-win/lawnpollution_e.exe

To be sure, I have been increasingly dissapointed with my own ecological footprint, and this is one way that I can make a difference. I may not be able to stop driving to work (I am in a service based industry), or purchase a hybrid automobile, but I can certainly change the way I mow my lawn. In fact, I think I will naturalize a part of my lawn. That means I won't mow parts of it at all. If my wife lets me.

So, let's recap. If you want to pollute less and still mow your lawn (city fees are nothing to scoff at, believe me), you have several options. Battery powered mower, corded electric mowers, and best of all, the reel mower.

April 02, 2007

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Member since: 11/20/06
About: I love modern style, mid century and some more contemporary as well. We live in...