The Real Enemy In Your Garage: Gas Mowers Undercut Air Quality

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The Real Enemy In Your Garage: Gas Mowers Undercut Air Quality

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May 21st, 2008 · No Comments

For those who can’t afford a service, and aren’t ready to turn in their gasoline powered gear, there are still ways to lessen the negative impact: Regularly service your equipment (oil changes are key), don’t top off the tank, and mow in the early morning or late evening.

Native plant enthusiasts would add one more suggestion to this list of eco-friendly tactics: rip out all or most of your grass and high maintenance shrubs and replace with plants that don’t require much care and feeding past their first year of installation.

You’ll not only be contributing less to air pollution and conserving water, you’ll be expanding habitat for birds, bees and other critters that inhabited your region long before lawns began swallowing up huge swaths of suburbia.

Two great resources for learning about plants native to your area are the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Research Center, and the National Wildlife Federation.