Lawns and Our Future

This week, the Environmental Protection Agency came forward with a proposal that the emission from lawnmowers be greatly reduced.

This is not a new description of the problem. Mowers all over suburbia, and all over the world for that matter, create tons of pollution.

Here's a quotation:
Walk-behind and riding mowers and other garden equipment account for up to 10 percent of summertime smog-forming emissions from mobile sources in some parts of the country.

The EPA's proposal applies to engines under 25 horsepower, which run nearly all walk-behind and riding lawnmowers as well as small generators and other devices. The rule would cut smog-forming emissions from the engines by 35 percent; the reductions would probably be accomplished by adding catalytic converters that reduce pollution from exhaust.

The rule would take effect in 2011 for riding mowers and 2012 for push mowers and would apply only to new engines.

To accomplish this goal mowers would probably have to be sold with catalytic converters. This would add greatly to the cost. Or, perhaps, under pressure from the circumstances, ingenious people in some manufacturing valhalla, like Detroit, will come up with an even better idea.

Naturally, ARBORETUM is all for finding a solution to this problem and will support the EPA editorially. We cannot help thinking that a new ethic of lawn maintainenance needs to evolve. Maybe the care and feeding of luxurious lawns is a frivolity we ought to abandon.

Now, what are we going to do about those great big trucks?