McMahonMatrix1



The push for the American lawn has been engrained into the American dream for quite some time now. It has been the dream of many Americans to have a house, with a white picket fence, and their own backyard; sanctuary from the rest of the world, a place where their children can play. This leads an American into the very unsustainable idea of “mine”. According to the EPA, having a lawn mower contributes to a part of the 800 million gallons of gas burned each year every year. The average lawn mower belches out loads of volatile organic compounds and other dangerous emissions such as CO and nitrous oxides. Also, older models of lawn mowers don’t burn up to 30% of the fuel that they use, it is simply released back into the surround atmosphere. When all of these negative effects are coupled together, using a standard lawn mower for an hour can be compared to driving eleven brand new cars for that same amount of time. The total air pollution resulting from mowing lawns makes up 5% of the total US pollution. On the other hand, there are still yet more problems with gas powered lawn tools. Seventeen million gallons of gasoline is spilled annually, the size of a small oil spill, on the ground from splashing while filling lawn tools. However, the sustainability problems associated with a lawn do not stop there. The pesticides needed to keep a lawn looking clean are very dangerous. Glyphosate, the main ingredient in most weed killers, is a highly toxic substance only allowed into the products because of the low residue levels associated with its use. The EPA is currently undergoing additional research to see what effects these trace amount have on human health and endocrine disruption. Preliminary tests show a very distinct link. These chemicals are seeping back into our ground water by means of rain, but also by the process of watering a lawn. Since lawns are cut so short, the ground actually begins to dry out. So, water needs to be pumped from some foreign location, disrupting a water table, and moved to water a lawn. While it may seem like this problem is very difficult to solve since it is engrained into the American culture, the solution is actually quite simple. Having recreactional areas in neighborhoods reduce the need for lawns on every house while the addition of grazing animals eliminates the need for a mower at all. As long as one is willing to let the yard grow a little wilder, no weed killer is necessary since the animals will take care of it all. Finally, let us not forget the tried and true method of yard work: manual labor. While initially more time consuming, manual labor will actually improve the health of your yard over time by destroying the whole root of weeds which chemicals only cause to lie dormant. In the long run, there will be less work.

Annotations:

Temple, David. "Cleaner Air: Mowing Emissions and Clean Air Alternatives. A Fact Sheet." Brill Reel Mowers, Push Reel Mowers and More |People Powered Machines. People Powered Machines. Web. 08 Nov. 2011. . This document was written by David Temple: an environmentally involved citizen. His work focuses on compiling data from the Environmental Protection agency and presenting them in a more user-friendly format on his site. This particular article focuses on the raw amount of emissions and consumption for lawn movers as compared to more soft-subject effects. Since the EPA provides the data used, there is a lot of facts given for these topics. The quotes, “According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a new gas powered lawn mower produces volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides emissions air pollution in in in one hour of operation as 11 new cars each being driven for one hour,” and “Americans burn 800 million gallons of gas each year trimming their grassy yards” get the hard facts about lawnmower inefficiency out while the quote, “According to the EPA, one gas mower spews 88 lbs. of the greenhouse gas CO2, and 34 lbs. of other pollutants into the air every year,” gives more quantifiable data on lawnmowers. Therefore, I used all the first two facts in both my presentation and paper. All of the data in this article backs my main research topic, so it was extremely helpful in establishing a foundation for the rest of the project to build off of.

Kimble-Evans, Amanda. "Roundup Kills More Than Weeds." MOTHER EARTH NEWS. Jan. 2010. Web. 08 Nov. 2011. . This article was written by Amanda Kimble-Evans who is a writer for organic gardening and world news magazines. These two areas of expertise combine in this article that focuses on the negative or masked effects of weed killers. In short, the negative effects of these chemicals can cause massive damage even at the amounts allowed by the EPA. Furthur investigations are being done to find out some of the more low-level effects. This article also goes on to investigate the mechanisms by which the toxins are allowed into the body due to metabolic-increasing solvents used. Basically, the better the weed killer, the better the person killer since the permeability factor is related in both. This can be best explained in the quote, “Those same factors that aid penetration into a plant, also aid penetration into the skin”. Despite this evidence, one of the Monsanto spokespersons said, “the product is safe…It’s used to protect schools.” The author goes on to point out the ridiculous notion of protecting schools from “killer weeds”. Finally, one aspect that I never fully thought about was the effects on the chains of cell signaling occurring all of the time in the body. The French found evidence that, ” glyphosate-based herbicides are toxic to human reproductive cells.” I used the toxic reports of the Glyphosate and the EPA’s planned research into the toxin even though France has data proving its toxicity.

Platt, Hailey. "Let Wallabies Roam Free, And They'll Mow Your Lawn (VIDEO)." The Huffington Post, 28 Apr. 2010. Web. 08 Nov. 2011. . This video, narrated by Hailey Platt, focuses around Mary Davis, a British wallaby farmer. Amemorable quote from the video is how, “she doesn't have to worry about cutting the grass, she leaves that to the wallabies.” This shows how efficient grazing animals can be when it comes to mowing the grass in areas where there are small patches of land for them to roam. Some farmers are even using them as an attraction for children. While other animals were tested, wallabies were, “allowed to stay because of thier unique grass cutting abilities,” giving them an advantage along with how, “they get to the places where the lawn mower can't trim too nicely, they get along the banks as well.” While not as neat, these lawn-trimmers are a wonderful alternative to the lawn movers which helps my argument immensely.