Now that we are into the midsummer mowing season, I figured it is a good time to repost this critical blog entry from last spring on OakleighVermont.com.
This may sound unbelievable, but according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) an ordinary gasoline lawn mower can emit as much pollution in one hour as a car driving eight hours! One hour of mowing produces the equivalent of 350 car-miles of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These are the smelly vapors like gasoline that are linked with cancer. 
Think of the 54 million Americans, mowing their lawns each weekend, their mowers emitting trillions of tons of pollution, and as a result, people inhaling cancer-causing vapors! Incredibly, more gasoline is spilled refueling lawn equipment each year than the 17 million gallons of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez off the coast of Alaska. How much gasoline is consumed by lawn mowers? Americans use 800 million gallons of gas trimming their lawns annually.
So what can we do? We need to think about alternative ways to use lawn space. Can we mow less lawn than we do now and still be happy? Would it make sense to turn lawns into vegetable gardens so the space produces food and requires less mowing? Are there alternatives to mowing with gas-powered mowers?
Often it would make sense to use some lawn space for veggie gardens. Before you do that, be sure you consider light, soil conditions and water availability. More and more people are growing their own and information and advice is easy to find at local garden centers and online. Often people with large lawns find that they can mow less and still have nice landscaping, with more natural landscaping if they mow once or twice a season or let the lawn go back to it's natural state.
There are also plenty of alternatives to gas mowers. These include reel or rotary "push" mowers and AC corded electric mowers and rechargeable battery electric mowers, which Oakleigh believes are a cut above the rest! Before buying any of these mowers, it is wise to try a test drive, look for reviews online from reputable sources, and at your library in publications such as Consumer Reports.
Photo Source: oafbot via creative commons license
8 Responses
1
Mouli Cohen
July 28th, 2009 at 10:55 am
As an entrepreneur, I think this article sheds light on the need for some sort of alternate-energy powered lawnmower. Obviously, Americans love to have a nice lawn, and given the trends towards green initiatives and sustainable fuels -even jetfuel- this seems like a product many people would flock towards. Since mowing is usually a sunny-day type activity, why not a solar-powered lawn mower? Just an idea.
2
Angie
July 28th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
We have a corded electric mower. We also have dedicated lots of yard space to flower gardens and a huge section of our backyard is a wildflower garden that is a 100% naturalized space. Next year we plan to convert even more of our city lot to naturalized space.
3
Bhavesh Bhatia
July 28th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
We do gardening to keep environment healthy around the house or colony and being in the same aspect we should keep away such pollution generating thing as we already spoiled the environment.
4
storybeader
July 29th, 2009 at 7:07 am
great post! I'll keep that in mind, the next time I go out to mow. Need to buy more trees and flowers! {:-D
5
Green Life 3.0
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I think that the best practice would be buy a corded electric mower or a rechargeable battery mower, I have an electric trimmer and it work perfect. I think that the electric mower could works fine. So when you buy one, look the reviews like the article explain.
6
pays to live green
August 4th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Push mowers are the best. Not only do they give you a great exercise, but also eliminate all those harmful emissions from gas mowers. I like the idea of converting grass areas to veggie gardens. You get great fresh produce and don't have to mow as much of a lawn.
7
Stefanie
August 4th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Mouli, that is actually a very good idea... should look into that.
pays to live green, we live in a condo right now, so no yard to take care of, but I've been trying to tell the hubs whenever we get a house, I want a push mower, and he's complaining about how much work it would be!
8
Chapel Chairs
August 11th, 2009 at 4:28 am
I would say that we just forgot in the luxury given by the machines runs by the fuel like petrol that we need to keep balance with the nature as well and now time is as worse we all want get rid off with these monsters...i hope that we will succeed.