GREEN NEWS & VIEWS
Why Do We Mow?
BY ALYCE ORTUZAR
We know that mowing deliberately destroys all of the vegeta- tion, inc luding food for our declining pollinators and other important beneficials. We may not know that operating a small, gasoline-pow - ered home lawn mower for one hour can generate greenhouse gas emissions comparable to driving a vehicle between 250 and 500 miles. Most mowers used today are much larger and thus more harmful. Emissions from the noisy leaf blowers are about 40 times that amount; in addition to the debris and toxins they spew into our air and water sources. Trimmers emit around 20 times more, but they destabilize the soil as they denude and spew it onto our roads and sidewalks and into our water sources, especially when it rains. Throughout Montgomery County and very likely the rest of Mary - land, the noise these practices generate can be heard daily—from early morning to the evening, at least ten months out of the year. So why do we mow? Authors of a Consumer Reports article in the mid-1980s posed this same question. They were astounded to learn it had only taken the chemical industry three to five years in the 1950s, with the help of a media campaign, to convince a majority of Ameri - cans to abandon their biodiverse, pollinator- and conservation-friend- ly clover yards for manicured and monocultured turf lawns dependent on chemicals, such as DDT. The public was told these lawns were safe. Insects Matter We also may not know that insects (not worms) are the sustenance for 90 percent of our birds, according to entomologist Doug Tallamy’s important and informative book Bringing Nature Home . He stress - es the need to replace turf grass—which captures no stormwater nor feeds anything—with robust, biodiverse, native vegetation that at- tracts and generates the insects that feed and determine the survival and population numbers of our birds. Mowing destroys all of that, in - cluding emerging tree seedlings that would have matured to: provide habitats; capture and store stormwater onsite to prevent runoff and flooding; and remove and sequester carbon from the environment. Thanks to the heroic efforts of individuals such as Rachel Carson to undo these harms, the public learned about the importance of what many scientists now characterize as pesticide-free green infrastruc - ture. Naturally emerging robust conservation vegetation protects the soil and enables it to absorb and store significant amounts of rainwater where it falls, and removes and sequesters tons of carbon fromthe envi- ronment. These gifts from nature also provide food and shelter for our pollinators and other wonderful critters. Research also documents the benefitstoouroverallwell-beingwhenwespendtimeinnatural settings. Gifts From Our Earthworms It is comforting to observe clover covered with bumblebees swinging from the stems as they feed on the plants. Clover also attracts earth- worms, and all of the wonderful microorganisms the worms gener- ate that also benefit the soil. Charles Darwin’s treatise on earthworms describes them as “nature’s archeologists.” Their movements aerate the soil, while covering up with dirt and thus protecting what we now regard as important historic ruins. In her book The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms , gardener Amy Stew - art expands Darwin’s treatise and applies his findings to our yards. Native robust conservation vegetation serves as a rain garden that can emerge naturally if the soil is properly nourished, especially with composted food scraps. Too often people choose conventional rain continued on page 22
PATHWAYS—Summer 21—21
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