Revised: Feb 25, 2004 Ron Howard, director of A Beautiful Mind and many other films, made his first film at age 8.. an anti mowing film which showed the nature of mowers' attacks on lawns. Please download with 100% cotton, rice, recycled, or scrap paper. In 2003, the world has seen floods, famine, fire, mudslides, hurricanes, tornados and other disasters created by the unprecedented destruction of trees around the world. Trees are nature's weather stabilizers. We need trillions of trees.. new trees. 50 REASONS TO REDUCE OR ELIMINATE MOWING ISAIAH: "BREAK NOT THE BRUISED REED" THE FIFTH ANGEL OF REVELATION: " HARM NO GREEN LIVING BEING" BUDDHA: MAY ALL THAT HAVE LIFE BE DELIVERED FROM SUFFERING BHAGAVAD GITA: OF TREES I AM THE FIG MAHAVIRA OF THE JAINS: KILL NOT CAUSE NO PAIN TO ANY BEING .GROW FREE FOOD .PREVENT MOWER ACCIDENTS .PROTECT SAPLING TREES .CREATE OXYGEN .SAVE TIME . CONSERVE FUEL .SAVE MONEY .GUARD FREEDOM .INVOKE RAIN. STABILIZE WEATHER PATTERNS . STOP MUDSLIDES .BUFFER NOISE . DIVERT FLOODS . FOSTER WILDLIFE HABITAT . FILTER AIR http://www.epa.gov/greenacres http://www.nrdc.org (not in the order of importance) In the last few years the EPA has joined the environmental groups promoting nonmowing. Their site is http://www.epa.gov .. type in 'natural landscaping' in search to bring up many sites. The Green Party http://www.greens.org and many Libertarians also support nonmowing. In June of 2002, NPR reported that the Congressional Black Caucus has a better record than either white Democrats or white Republicans in environmental issues. (We know of 1 Congressional black Republican). 1 of every 5 killed by a mower is a child. I: ENVIRONMENTAL (THE REDUCTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANIPULATION) 1. REFORESTATION When one stops mowing, land becomes meadow and then thicket and then woods. reforesting the world. 2. OXYGEN CREATION This extra greenery creates oxygen. The average tree creates 5 pounds of oxygen daily. 3. AIR PURIFICATION And purifies the air through leaf filtration a. particulate matter b.car fumes c.noxious gases d.other airborn toxins. Removal of carbon dioxide by plants ameliorates pollution. 4. TEMPERATURE STABILIZATION Warms the world's winters and cools the summers. There is a 50 degree difference between 70 degree equatorial rainforest and 120 degree desert. Each blade of grass is a little air conditioner. A world without drought, flood, famine, freezes, and killer heat can be eliminated by literally covering the world with trees. 5. RAIN INVOCATION Greenery calls down rain. Bayard Webster of the NY Times wrote that each mature tree evaporates 40 gallons of moisture daily (much greater amounts for older trees.) All greenery is involved in the raincycle. The drought and consequent starvation in N. Korea was related to the cutting of nearly all trees for fuel. (as is present drought in the NW US). (NPR Sept 98 and other sources) 6. DEW PRESERVATION Preserves dew. Not only do green spires and leaves act as masts around which dew can gather, but the more greenery the longer the dew lasts. 7. NOISE BUFFER Weaves a noise buffer which screens out unpleasant traffic 8. NOISE PREVENTION Ends the peace-fracturing sound of the lawnmower. Some communities have noise ordinances which prevent mowing during normal sleeping hours. 9. VISUAL BEAUTY Multiplies the beauty of diversity 10. FRAGRANCE Multiply the fragrance in the air. 11. HEALING GREEN Nonmowing creates optical healing by creating more greenery. Research has proven that looking on the jade and forest greens reduces heartbeat and creates peace. 12. LANDFILL ECONOMY Letting lawns grow wild reduces pressure on landfills..by not adding leaves to overburdened systems (and saves the fuel and wages of collection releasing workers for the labor of their hearts). (NPR Sept 1: methane gases leach from landfill through water into basements) As the world evolves away from treekilling, sawdust piles which are a byproduct of the lumber industry will be removed, making the earth safer for children. 13. FUEL CONSERVATION Conserves fuel a. unused in unused mowers b. As evergreen trees break cold winter winds and shroud dwellings they are natural insulation. 14. HYDROCARBON REDUCTION Prevents hydrocarbon mower emission from polluting the air. Many media outlets are passing on the EPA recommendation that lawns not be mowed when there is great humidity and heat. Hydrocarbons create ozone alerts. 15. CARBON DIOXIDE Greenery which takes in carbon dioxide and breathes out oxygen reduces gases toxic to humans.
15a. METHANE GAS and toxic gases are purified by leaf action. 16. TORNADO PREVENTION Unstable heat is the main factor in tornados. Greenery which reduces the temperature 30 degrees in forest areas prevents tornados. 17. MUDSLIDE PREVENTION: The roots of living plants absorb great amounts of water and prevent mudslides. 18. FLOOD PREVENTION: A. On river banks and everywhere, tree, plant, bush, and vine roots are flood preventers. As David Kidd of Canton, planter of more than a million trees has stated, the bigger and older the tree the more work it does. (The 900 year old oaks with their huge diameters are a lot more precious to Mother Earth than skinny young trees. http://www.freetree.org B. Ohio Public Radio David C. Barnett Sept 9th: reported on reduction of impervious surface by reducing concrete and adding greenery. (The hard asphalt, concrete, and rooftops create more runoff and flooding.) C. Bricks and stones in roads are better for the environment than are concrete and asphalt. They allow rain through the inter-brick space and have less blistering heat. Angel strips not devil strips (Planting grape trellises over highways re-greens the earth and creates food.) 19. PREVENT DESERTIFICATION Only reforestation can prevent desertification. This is the conclusion of Patrick Velasquez of US Agency For International Development and most other environmentalists. We used to think a pine cone was one seed, but apparently it is hundreds. 20. REDUCE CHEMICAL POLLUTION: Radio network show Public Interest October 7 featuring Rodale author: Chemically treated lawns are grass high on drugs.: Fertilizer has toxic byproducts for the land and water. Rodale, Emmaus Pennsylvania, USA 18049 is one leader in the organic movement. 21. FASTEST CLEANUP OF TOXIC DUMPS Green island sanctuaries of unmolested plants, insects, and wildlife are a protection against the biotech manipulations of the environment. 22. WATERSHED PROTECTION The more greenery, plants, vines, trees, and bushes.. the more the watershed, reservoirs, and lakes and ponds, brooks and streams are protected. a. Arsenic is a byproduct of the pressed wood industry. Arsenic is poisonous in the waters, and like other industrial pollutants such as mercury, chromium and polychlorinated biphenols is concentrated in the flesh of fishes. http://www.nofishing.net http://www.pcrm.org http://www.ivu.org 23. BIODIVERSITY Nonmowing or letting God be the landscaper creates biodiversity and its many benefits (and benefirs) rather than monoculture. (Loggers last year caused the death of David Chain, Earth First tree activist. Write efmc@a... or call 707 923 2114 Andy Caffrey) 24. FIRE PREVENTION In March of 2001, widescale drought in the NW has been reported. Destruction of greenery is one cause of this. Trees' evaporation is necessary in cloud formation. 25. FLOOD PREVENTION Nonmowing causes natural reforestation. Tree roots on river banks prevent floods. 26. WATER CONSERVATION: Unmowed areas do not need watering.. they are self contained systems. Nor do they need recycling. 27. INSECTICIDE PREVENTION: Carpet lawn enthusiasts pollute the environment with insecticides in some cases. II HUMAN RIGHTS: (Numbers 19 through 31) 1. FEEDING THE HUNGRY: FOOD CREATION Prevents famine by giving a cornucopia of free food to the planet Orchards are 450 times as productive per acre as slaughterhouses..Dr. Faust, former chief of the USDA Fruit Labs, cited centenarian orchards of apple trees dropping two tons each of food. This is 400,000 lbs per acre as compared to 100 to 1000 lbs of food for meat, 10,000 lbs for dairy, 80,000 lbs. for acre. The 400 to l ratio is only the first step. Tri level agriculture.. with bean and other vines around the tree trunks and other foodyielding plants in the interarboreal spaces.. yield even more. This also can be multiplied by those areas which have 2 or 3 growing seasons..e.g. Southern California. Because certain economic systems promote scarcity based profit, these orchard systems have been deemphasized. 2. PREVENTION OF DEATH AND INJURY Prevents in the U.S. alone, 75,000 accidents and some fatalities annually caused by mowers and harvesters, and around the world millions of accidents eliminated. NPR reported May 17, 2002 that tractor rollovers are the leading cause of death among farmers, and that farming in general is the 2nd most hazardous occupation (after commercial fishing). 2b. Ravines are generally more protected from mowing, as there is wider recognition of the danger of mowing. 2c. When grass is mowed on hillsides, when wet or exceedingly dry it can cause slipping accidents. 3. PREVENTION OF HEART ATTACKS As non shoveling of snow can prevent winter heart attacks nonmowing can sometimes prevent summer heart attacks. 4. FREEDOM Health departments are reducing the forced crewcutting of lawns and the rending of Mother Nature's garments . See below for further info. 5. EMPTY JAILS Saves money otherwise spent on jailing people (see above) 6. PRIVACY Creates a privacy screen. Ways to avoid grass (a transitional plant unless land is constantly mowed) include a. pachysandra b. myrtle and other ground cover c. grape vine trellises d. evergreen trees and shrubs as natural fences e. berry bushes as natural boundaries. 7. HERBAL REMEDIES Nonmowing allows healing extracts and seeds to flourish, e.g. milkthistle seeds, which regenerate cirrhosis- afflicted livers. The active ingredient is silymarin. (Herbology student embyrne@s... is a non mower) Work against those who seek to patent the world's pre-existing seeds. http://www.purefood.org (see Monsanto file.) 8. KEEPS WASPS FRIENDLY prevents wasp stings and hive attacks as their homes are destroyed. 9. ECONOMICS.. TENS OF BILLIONS A YEAR SPENT ON MOWING a. saves money otherwise spent on fuel b. Saves money otherwise spent on young trees. c. Fruit trees ave money spent on food. The state of Florida spends $30 million a year mowing medians and right of ways along highways. Muliplying that by every federal, state, and municipal program..as well as those of individuals becomes tens of billions. 10. TIME ECONOMY frees human time hours for enjoyable priorities a. no gas procurement time, no mowing time, no raking time. 11. AMERICAN HERITAGE: The Native American culture never spent time mowing Mother Earth. Her green cover is her garment. Lawn mowing is a fairly recent thing. The original lawn mowers were sheep and other animals later slaughtered for their flesh. The Time Life Gardening Yearbook mentions the 'chipped monotypic layer of bluegrass', the crewcut which is called a lawn. Other ecologists speak about the hazards of monoculture. 12. FREE CONCERTS Cicadas and crickets will give free concerts, as will woodpeckers, songbirds whose habitats are restored. Fireflies will put on silent fireworks. Buttercups will save chalices of dew for butterflies who in turn will cool the earth with the slight breeze from their fanning wings. 13. WEED KILLER OR HERBICIDE use (Diane Rehm Show Sept 1) causes childhood and other environmental pollutant based cancers. Some leaches into the water system. Some is directly smeared onto skin. 14. INSECTICIDE BASED CANCERS: Insecticides were developed as weapons in WW 2. At the end of the war, chemical companies wanted new markets. These insecticides cause cancer. (NPR Sept 1) Animal products concentrate insecticides at 21 times the intensity they occur in fruits and vegetables, since a 1000 lb. cow ate 21,000 lbs. of food with nondegradable insecticides remaining in the muscle cells. 15. HEALING: Studies of recovering gall bladder patients reveal that those looking on a garden heal faster than those not. (BJ 6 6 2000) There are now herbal therapists at Univ of Kansas, Rutgers, Texas A&M, and Virginia Tech. Those who look on living green have reduced blood pressure. The plant yarrow makes children in its proximity less agressive within a few moments. Lavender increases memory and concentration. An ancient vedic parable says that to be healed one should look upon green. Rather than paint the world that color, a sage says 'put on green glasses'. (The best green glasses are living in an environment of green.) 16. FIGHT PREVENTION Nonmowing prevents neighborhood fights such as a. those caused by early morning noise b. those caused by mowing a neighbor's property or cutting down his newly planted saplings COTTON PAPER LASTS FOUR HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS. TREE PAPER LASTSSIXY YEARS. III ANIMAL RIGHTS: 1. WILDLIFE HABITAT Reprovides a home for wildlife, both those not endangered and those which are. Keeps birds from flying away when the power motors are started. 2 ANIMAL RIGHTS Protects insects, redwinged blackbirds and other living creatures nesting in ground cover, and prevents the mastication deaths of millions of small field animals chewed up in harvesters.. (Sometimes the tiny feet of these animals can be seen in cans of food.) In Numbers 22, God causes a donkey to speak about the beatings of her human 'owner'. Along Lake Michigan in parts of Chicago are new signs indicating not mowing is done to give birds long grasses in which to nest. 3 PRESERVE WILDLIFE FOOD SUPPLY: Not removing acorns leaves food for squirrels and other wildlife during the winter as well as providing new sapling oaks in the spring. Not removing leaves provides more thermal shelter for northern animals. 4. SONGBIRDS ATTRACTED TO WILD AREAS ............... James Marcus: Dandelions: they must be God's favorite flower for He plants them everywhere. IV: PLANT RIGHTS Numbers 33 and 34 1. PLANT RIGHTS Protects the rights of sentient plants whose feelings have been documented by Dr. Chandra Bose, knighted by the Queen of England for his laboratory measurement of plant consciousness. Other scientists who have proven or written of plant consciousness ares are Clive Baxter, Luther Burbank, The Secret Life Of Plants writers,, the owner to whose rights, Isaac Tigrett, sold all the Hard Rock Cafes he founded after becoming a vegetarian. (Dandelions would rather be plucked by 7 year old boys like Jai Len who consider them bubble blowing sticks.. than by a machine.) Pachysandra, myrtle, snow on the mountain, and camomile are some ground covers which do not offend more conservative neighbors. 2: WILDFLOWER SANCTUARY Those like Lady Bird Johnson who have worked to foster protection of wildflowers know the necessity of more wild places. 3: ENDING BOTANICAL RACISM E.Woodford is the first person who has spoken to us of botanical racism. This phrase means different things to different people. To us it means that weeds have as much right to exist as do plants with cultivated blooms. The spirit-filled volunteers called weeds are usually stronger, more and more prolific than cultivated plants. V: DIVINE RIGHT: 1. Mother Earth blesses those who abandon controlling and manipulating her. 2. God does not like lawnmowers. (Joel 1: The land mourns the destruction of plants.) (Isaiah: Break not the bruised reed.)\ 3. George Bernard Shaw: I love little children, but I don't cut off their heads and stick them in vases. --- End forwarded message
those are some very good reasons........its depressing to see how many people actually do mow their lawn now...i think i am going to cut mine a lot less often now(but still do it so my neighbors dont think im nuts), and when i do, i will actually cut it with clippers, like the things you use to shape bushes and other crazy stuff like that, and ill just go do it in the early morning or late night or something... i'm definatley gonna forward this to some people, i am sending it to my cities and the zoos environmental commision as we speak, maybe ill make SOME difference..... "We've got to get ourselves, back to the garden"
were saying you should DEFINATLEY not mow your lawn, at least not as often, or leave part of it untouched, like your backyard.
i heard one hours mowing produces as much emissions as driving 150ks, and the 2 stroke mowers are worse. an alternative is to buy and use a scythe.
what about self propelled mowers? has anyone tryed those? i hear they are a lot of hard work and its a lot of excercise, then again people seem to frown on those things now a days even in small forms........
Yeah I can give you 3 reasons you should, snakes, spiders and misquitos. You dont have to use gasoline powered mowers, there are those old ones from the 50s. I had rather have a forest than a lawn tho, and u can get this by planting the trees ur self then mowing around them.
It depends on where you live. In my area there are some problems with not mowing. 1) How do you see the kids? Our grasss would get higher than a small child in just a few weeks. 2) some municipalities can and will cite you for "blight." I HATE messing with the County about shit like this. 3) LOTS of mosquitoes in the areas of our acre we don't mow. We have lots of West Nile Virus here, so it is a problem. 4) grass that goes to seed not only gets really dry, it blows into people's gardens and makes more weeding for them. 5) we have a LOT of Poison Ivy in our area. Mowing does keep it from spreading everywhere. 5)ITCHY!!!! Meadows are neeeded, but not everyone can grow one where they live.
yeah, alot of those reasons for nonmowing had nothing to do with cutting grass. id suggest you just mow less and plant more trees and stuff.
I'm sorry but for a suburban area this is rdiculous. Using more efficent mowers and doing it less often great! But what would I do with my dogs if I stopped mowing the grass? It would be ticks fleas and worm city for them.
--------- and this one... ------------------------------------ Ok, now that we have heard all the negative reasons not to mow the lawn or have a lawn period how about some positives? My horse is boarded in Norco, Calif were WNV did a serious number on our livestock in this semi-suburban city w/ a country twang. This however did not stop people from riding down in the riverbed or planting gardens or buliding up gardens or from some ripping up old lawn for something completely different like a sustainable yard w/ little water usage (excellant for desert california). While I can understand why folks can't do so in a track housing situation/association (why move there in the first place if one can't do what you want with your own yard) but that's neither here nor there. There are SOME steps people can take to create a natural oasis in the city. Check the local ordinances to see what can and can not be done in your area. If folks live in an area were ticks are known well shouldn't you be checking for ticks anyway, right?! And not just on your pets! Anyway, in Mother Earth mag, they focused on city gardens, that is people who have created a natural place for nature to exsist along side the garbage dump cities have really become. Some places are suburbs...some are in the middle of down town. It depends on if folks are will put forth the effort to help change just a small section of the earth (act locally, yes??). Lastly, before she just got too old and sickly, my mom's ex-supervisor's Mother who is now in her mid-90's for 30+ years had a garden and chickens in her front yard in Compton, Calif (that's right COMPTON). She kept this up even as the city around her changed in to another hazard of living in L.A. county. Her reason was simple- "I can't eat grass so why keep it?" Have fun. urbangal *who now happily lives in rural area were stinkin' nasty gross track housing/associations are popping up like roaches at a garbage dump*
