the whole house comes out to watch him. though we have a perfectly functional gas-operated mower, jeremy insists on using his grandfather's vintage push mower, which has got to be at least 50 years old.
some, like lucy and maizy, like to hear the whirring of the blades, and watch the clippings flip upward into the wind. some, like me, like to laugh at jeremy running around, wearing himself out. at any rate, i give him tons of credit for his efforts.
"Traditional gas-powered lawn mowers are responsible for 5 percent of the nation's air pollution, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which recently created emission regulations for small engines like those that lawn mowers use. One gas mower running for an hour emits the same amount of pollutants as eight new cars driving 55 mph for the same amount of time, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists."
"Americans burn 800 million gallons of gas each year trimming their grassy yards, according to the EPA, but the gas that doesn't make it into the mower's fuel tank is also an environmental concern. The EPA reports that 17 million gallons of fuel are spilled each year while refueling lawn equipment — more than all the oil leaked by the Exxon Valdez off the coast of Alaska in 1989."
the link to the rest of the article can be found here.
some, like lucy and maizy, like to hear the whirring of the blades, and watch the clippings flip upward into the wind. some, like me, like to laugh at jeremy running around, wearing himself out. at any rate, i give him tons of credit for his efforts.
"Traditional gas-powered lawn mowers are responsible for 5 percent of the nation's air pollution, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which recently created emission regulations for small engines like those that lawn mowers use. One gas mower running for an hour emits the same amount of pollutants as eight new cars driving 55 mph for the same amount of time, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists."
"Americans burn 800 million gallons of gas each year trimming their grassy yards, according to the EPA, but the gas that doesn't make it into the mower's fuel tank is also an environmental concern. The EPA reports that 17 million gallons of fuel are spilled each year while refueling lawn equipment — more than all the oil leaked by the Exxon Valdez off the coast of Alaska in 1989."
the link to the rest of the article can be found here.
jeremy says he likes the exercise. he also says he's offsetting our neighbor's emissions, who uses a ride-on mower for a plot of grass sized similarly to ours. serious. it's one of those things you'd just have to see to believe.
2 comments:
We chose to purchase a push/reel mower when we bought our house because our lawn is not overly large and we wanted to be environmentally friendly. Also, it's great exercise. Anyway, we really love it and it does a great job. The neighbors seem to enjoy coming out to watch us mow the lawn, though, and sometimes cars will even slow down as they drive by our house. That's kind-of strange when it happens, you know.
I would definitely recommend everyone switch to an electric model as soon as possible. It might be more expensive but it will save you and the environment in the long one. There are several brands including Neutron, Brill, and others. Check out this site and read the electric mower section http://www.lawnmowersworld.com/electric/
Post a Comment