Yvette's Inner Geek Blog

Green contemplations for the day:

• Utah is a state so red that even the grass is too intimidated to grow its natural color.
• My drive to be environmentally conscious is strengthened every day that I see [dickheads in] gas-guzzling vehicles in the majority on Utah roadways.
• If it wouldn’t be such a waste of paper, I would propaganda our conservative neighborhood with helpful suggestions for how to be more environmentally friendly, i.e. STOP LETTING YOUR CHILD DRIVE HIS FOUL AND NOISY DIRTBIKE UP AND DOWN YOUR DRIVEWAY FOR HOURS ON END. He will grow up to think it’s okay to selfishly waste precious natural resources by revving his 4-wheeler up and down the street and on the hill not far away. Oh wait, you’ve already set that example for him…
• Ben and I are in the minority of residents in our town who participate in household recycling. We have to pay $5 a month for the honor. Other residents in our town do not seem to have a problem filling their garbage bins with cardboard boxes and plastic.
• Hoo boy, this is turning into a rant. All I’m saying is that Utah has a long way to go in many areas—politically speaking, and as a result, environmentally speaking.

This week, Ben did something radically eco-friendly (for Utah, anyway): he ordered us a Scotts 20-Inch Classic Push Reel Lawn Mower. It’s retro*, but engineered to be a lot lighter and easier to use than the pre-1970s Gold Standard of manicured lawns. It’s also 100% pollution-free and the only maintenance required is to sharpen the blades.

Our first mower, which is a hand-me-down gas mower from my dad, is clunky, hard to push, and a general pain in the ass. We’ve been talking about buying a new one for some time.

I’ve been following @LighterFootstep on Twitter, and they recently linked to a 2008 blog post on their site by Chris Baskind featuring three gas-free and earth friendly lawn mowers. We have a small-ish flat lawn that doesn’t need to be mowed very often in Utah’s dry climate, so the solutions they provided were all reasonable for our situation.

Ben did all the research since he’s the one who mows the lawn (I’m a princess!) and decided that he wanted to try one of these “reel” mowers. At $109 on amazon.com—with free shipping and some gift certificates we’ve been saving—it was an easy decision.

Another earth-friendly mower that LighterFootstep noted was electric mowers, which have batteries that need several hours to charge should they run out in the middle of your quiet mowing session. Not cool if that were to happen.

The third alternative is VERY cool, and very retro, but would not be very applicable to our puny desert lawn: scythes. As Chris Baskind says, “green tech needn’t mean high tech.” If you haven’t ever seen a scythe in use, check out this video. It’s pretty sweet (though the audio was disabled).

Yeah, that scythe would have been a lot more effective a few times when I was a teenager and had to mow my family’s over-neglected yard!

*What I’m reminded of most when I think of these retro reel mowers is Audrey’s dream sequence during the movie version of “Little Shop of Horrors.” Did I mention that Ben watched that movie for the first time a couple weeks ago, and as a result he is now slightly intimidated by the houseleeks in our front yard?

Happy Earth Day. I’m going to go walk barefoot on our long grass (the mower should arrive tomorrow).