ET Pollution grows as grass is cut

THE air pollution from cutting grass for an hour with an unleaded petrol-powered lawn mower is about the same as that from a 100-mile car journey, according to a study.

A team from Stockholm University says that catalytic converters fitted to mowers would cut harmful emissions by 80 per cent, reports the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

-- Anonymous, May 29, 2001

Answers

Did the team actually use a specific size lawn? or are we to guess that they mean any size?

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001

It's not size that matters :) It's time. One hour = 100 miles. Of cutting lawn and polluting, that is. (Not to mention all those nasty fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and stuff.)

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001

I'll rip up the lawn when the Secret Lawn Police do so. Until then, I'd like to avoid getting on their main offender list. As it is, I'm being watched because I didn't add fertilizer, weed-be-gone, or anything else that one is supposed to add to keep those little blades in tip-top shape. In August, I'm the only one who has a green lawn without adding water. Ah, the power of crabgrass!

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001

We don't have much grass since I planted over most of it (and horrified the neighbors). But what bit we do have is heavy with weeds, including crabgrass. Funny thing about crabgrass--our cats LOVE it. I do know that cats like to eat grass because it contains a natural antibiotic, so maybe crabgrass has the most powerful or concentrated antibiotic. I bring in handfuls every day for them to chew on. (And upchuck.)

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001