On 6/16/2010 2:41 PM, Nehmo wrote:
A painless method to reduce the human impact on the environment is to
stop mowing grass.

In general, the only reason for mowing is appearance, and often,
considering the location of the grass, the appearance can only be
appreciated by a small number of people. Moreover, once people get
accustomed to seeing uncut lawns, they may consider them preferable.

The mania about cutting grass has reached insanity. Many
municipalities in the US have laws forcing people to mow their lawns,
and people actually go to jail for not cutting their grass.

But my focus here will be the environmental impact.

The longer the grass, the more leaf area there is per land area.
Therefore, uncut grass would be more efficient per unit land area at
converting CO2 to oxygen – directly reducing the CO2 in the
atmosphere.

Lawn mowers have highly polluting small engines. In one estimate, one
hour of typical mower engine time is equivalent to an 100 mile trip in
an average car http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98532&page=1
. The EPA states mowing causes 5% of air pollution
http://www.peoplepoweredmachines.com...nvironment.htm . Reducing
the use of these engines reduces pollution of many types.

Most mowing is in urban areas, where pollution is the worst and where
most people breathe.

The habitat of many animals is disturbed by mowing.

It’s also worth mentioning that numerous accidents, many serious, are
caused directly or indirectly by mowing.


~{|) Nehmo (|}~


I've been trying for years for someone to pay me not to cut the grass
and I would sell them carbon credits for it. Sad state of affairs that
there are no takers.