Sure, it would be nice to save the planet.
It would be even nicer to save my eyes and fingers and toes. And anything else that could get smacked with a rock or a projectile, or stuck in the samurai-sharp blades of a lawn mower.
For years, I’d justified the waist-high “lawn” in front of my rental property by telling myself I was saving my digits and orbs to see the green earth for yet another day. Now that I’m a homeowner, however, my pride is letting me know that the grass really does need to be cut. I actually care what my neighbors think. Plus, it’s harder to get the dog in at night when he has all that natural cover.
Enter the green machine: it looks like a toy. Sounds like a toy. You can carry on a conversation while you’re mowing! It’s completely non-threatening and still cuts the grass. Who knew reducing my carbon footprint would also allay so many irrational fears?
Of course, it’s even easier to avoid injury when you’re outside with a camera in one hand and a piece of date cake in the other, and the man actually gets behind the push mower.
What??? It doesn’t bag the clippings? How do you then compost them and turn them into nutrient-rich soil that feeds your Victory Garden?
I’m all for push mowers, but I’m vehemently against spending extra time on the lawn. I have a stainless steel mower with a small Honda motor. No self-propelled nonsense. It’s a rear-bagger, and I throw the clippings on the Monster Compost Pile ™ behind my shed. Yeah, I could probably go to a push mower if I could figure out a way to get the clippings bagged (beyond spending another hour with a rake), but Honda motors are low-polluting and my postage stamp lawn is so small that I could probably cut the lawn all summer on 2 or 3 tanks of fuel.