Growing and Mowing – A Ridiculous, Wasteful Practice

When discussing the use of fossil fuels to run machinery, there are more than cars, buses, motorcycles, trucks, airplanes and boats to consider. What about the lowly lawnmower?

According to the Ecology Action Center, over 580 million gallons of gasoline are used in the United States just for mowing lawns.

Now think about this – those who want a green lawn, fertilize and water the heck out of it (damaging our waterways in the process) to make it grow then pollute the air by cutting it down with a gas-guzzling, loud machine. So we encourage the grass to grow and then we cut it down. (I’m seeing Jon Stewart’s look of incredulity here.) This ridiculous process also upends the natural habitat nature intended in favor of a monoculture that is further assaulted with pesticides (thereby polluting our waterways again and poisoning ourselves).

There are alternatives for residential lawn-lovers. There are electric mowers and even some that are solar-powered. An internet search will yield a couple of kits that are available for conversion of a gas mower to one that is solar-powered. And then there is the good-old reel mower that won’t pollute and will give you a good workout.

I can see how it’s nice to have a small backyard lawn for children to enjoy, but what about when the practice is paid for with our taxes? Specifically, why do our local, state and federal highway authorities insist on growing turf in the medians and highway cloverleaf areas?

The EPA says that pre-1997 lawn and garden equipment accounts for as much as 5 percent of the total man-made hydrocarbons that contribute to ozone formation. Further, the agency says the exchange of 1,000 gasoline-powered lawn mowers for electric mowers has the potential of reducing volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions by 9.8 tons per year, which is equivalent to removing 230 cars from the highways. It stands to reason that the behemoth riding mowers used on highways are even worse. Residential lawn mowing contributes as much as five percent of the nation’s air pollution, according to the EPA. New emission standards may be published soon but it begs the question. Why mow?

The right thing for highway officials to is to design medians and cloverleafs for native plantings. Native plants are more disease-resistant and drought-resistant than laws and they require much less maintenance. Plantings would save fuel, water, and manpower requirements. And they are beautiful too. Remember Lady Bird Johnson’s wildflower initiative? She had the right idea.

Getting away from the insidious “grow and mow” cycle would reduce pollution, and be better for the environment in so many ways. In the midst of this recession and shrinking government budgets, why waste tax money on installing and mowing lawns? It makes no sense. But this paradigm change won’t happen unless we demand it from our elected officials. If this bothers you, let ‘em know.

Why are we so addicted to lawns in this country anyway? Supposedly the custom of having a lush, green lawn goes back to England when a front lawn meant that the landowner was wealthy enough to not have to use the land in front of the house for growing food. Today you could say that a front lawn shows that the property owner is wealthy enough to pollute.

by Elvia Thompson
Comunications and Public Relations