Cutting your personal fossil fuel combustion behooves just about everyone and everything except the people who want you to burn more and make money off you. There are many simple ways you can reduce your carbon footprint, save money, do your small share to reduce global carbon emissions and feel righteous.
Let’s quickly look at some of the good things that come out of mowing your grass less, for example: 1) You burn less gasoline. 2) You save money. 3) The amount of exhaust you propel into the atmosphere goes down. 4) Your mower lasts longer between repairs.
Now, let’s look at some of the bad things that happen when you mow less: 1) Your exercising (perhaps) is reduced (which you can increase through some other activity). Hmmm, I can’t think of anything else. Feel free to weigh in here.
I bring up this mowing example because my wife took a section of our lawn out of grass cover and turned it into a mulched section of land with some other small ground cover plants that don’t require attention or mowing. That means every time I would be mowing, I’m instead relaxing doing something else, while knowing I’ve done my small part to stem the tide in global carbon emissions.
Who knows what would result from this type of action if every human with a yard eliminated 25 percent of their mowing. Or what if individuals pulled 50 percent or more of their grass mowing capacity off the weekly chores list? In the long run, with large commitments, this would be a helpful step statistically, emotionally and psychologically in the necessary movement for us humans to stem our ignition of carbon-based products.
I strongly believe people – individually and collectively – want to do their part to address how our climate has warmed and changed visibly over the past 25-30 years (and probably longer) due to the amount of carbon pumped into the atmosphere. Polling and statistics consistently show this to be the case. The cognitive dissonance appears to be that people don’t see the personal steps they can take on an individual basis, and how that would help collectively in the long run to make things better.
Reduction in lawn mowing is one step many can take. It takes no effort other than the work necessary to put some other landscaping in place to reduce the grassy area. Get your hands dirty, then wham, you’re done. Where’s the beer?
Hey, ya know, on the pessimistic side, taking a chunk of your lawn out of the mowing queue isn’t going to be an instantaneous dramatic change. If EVERYONE in the world did it, maybe there would be a 6.3 percent reduction in lawn mower emissions. That’s a start. Someone has pull the chord to start the engine to begin the race. It might as well be me and you.
If you add 6.3 percent from here and 6.3 percent from there and 6.3 percent from someplace else, we’re closing in on a 20 percent personal reduction in our carbon footprint. Yes, that’s a good thing, and becomes more than “just a start.” Maybe it becomes a trend. Maybe people stop being cynical and seize the moment to make a difference. Each of us has this choice.
Let’s quickly look at some of the good things that come out of mowing your grass less, for example: 1) You burn less gasoline. 2) You save money. 3) The amount of exhaust you propel into the atmosphere goes down. 4) Your mower lasts longer between repairs.
Now, let’s look at some of the bad things that happen when you mow less: 1) Your exercising (perhaps) is reduced (which you can increase through some other activity). Hmmm, I can’t think of anything else. Feel free to weigh in here.
I bring up this mowing example because my wife took a section of our lawn out of grass cover and turned it into a mulched section of land with some other small ground cover plants that don’t require attention or mowing. That means every time I would be mowing, I’m instead relaxing doing something else, while knowing I’ve done my small part to stem the tide in global carbon emissions.
Who knows what would result from this type of action if every human with a yard eliminated 25 percent of their mowing. Or what if individuals pulled 50 percent or more of their grass mowing capacity off the weekly chores list? In the long run, with large commitments, this would be a helpful step statistically, emotionally and psychologically in the necessary movement for us humans to stem our ignition of carbon-based products.
I strongly believe people – individually and collectively – want to do their part to address how our climate has warmed and changed visibly over the past 25-30 years (and probably longer) due to the amount of carbon pumped into the atmosphere. Polling and statistics consistently show this to be the case. The cognitive dissonance appears to be that people don’t see the personal steps they can take on an individual basis, and how that would help collectively in the long run to make things better.
Reduction in lawn mowing is one step many can take. It takes no effort other than the work necessary to put some other landscaping in place to reduce the grassy area. Get your hands dirty, then wham, you’re done. Where’s the beer?
Hey, ya know, on the pessimistic side, taking a chunk of your lawn out of the mowing queue isn’t going to be an instantaneous dramatic change. If EVERYONE in the world did it, maybe there would be a 6.3 percent reduction in lawn mower emissions. That’s a start. Someone has pull the chord to start the engine to begin the race. It might as well be me and you.
If you add 6.3 percent from here and 6.3 percent from there and 6.3 percent from someplace else, we’re closing in on a 20 percent personal reduction in our carbon footprint. Yes, that’s a good thing, and becomes more than “just a start.” Maybe it becomes a trend. Maybe people stop being cynical and seize the moment to make a difference. Each of us has this choice.
