It is a greater offense to peddle heroin than to use it, but it is still illegal. It is a vicious drug whose grip few people escape without jail or death. So too, should it be illegal, and a worse offense, to peddle gasoline-machine-based lawncare services than to purchase them.

I wonder: If it is not considered a greater offense only because the injury inflicted by the noise, pollution and spillage kills people and wildlife more slowly than heroin does. But is heroin worse because the detriments are localized to the abusers and perhaps a more limited set of loved ones than most lawncare-driven injury?

The biggest problem is that innocent bystanders harmed by most machinery used for lawncare are victimized without rights, given no choice but to tolerate the intrusion and injury.

This is a situation that can no longer stand as accepted by our laws. It is in direct conflict with ethical standards based on the rights of individuals to be free from unwelcome harm by others, and perhaps in conflict with public nuisance case law precedence.

As I write this, the roar of two rolling and three back-pack borne gasoline powered leaf blowers work their way accross my neighbor’s lawn.

I am forced to tolerate the poor choices of the service provider and my neighbor, both of whom I believe should be deemed criminal by the next wave of environmental legislation that finally comes to terms with the costs of our oil-based, labor-averse faltering economy and global eco-system.

Gasoline derived pollution is ultimately deadly and the victims are deprived of their basic human right to clean air!

Fortunately our addiction to neatly primped, “pedigree perfect” lawns is easier to break than drugs. There are quiet, clean and green alternatives that cost the consumer no more, but society much less.

Ten percent of air pollution in the United States comes from gasoline-based lawncare. Most small engines are 20 times less efficient than cars. The noise and dust is outrageous. And the spillage nationally each year is “Exxon Valdez-like” in scale. The use of synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides is also well-documented as detrimental to the public health.

The term paper I will write for the MBA class I’m taking this semester at Fairfield University will analyze the ethical, economic, and environmental issues associated with the lawncare industry. The state of progress in lawn care legislation will be reviewed and argument for reform presented.

Dan Delventhal
MowGreen.US, Reel Mowing; Quiet, Clean & Green