Welcome to the hottest part of summer, when the heat and smoke season may have you looking at your yard and thinking that it’s time to upgrade from gas lawn equipment to electric, or to go back to manual tools. Tobie Stanger, a senior editor at Consumer Reports, joins the conversation to talk about the independent, nonprofit product review site’s […]
If you fertilize your lawn, you are probably worried about your dogs traipsing through the grass afterward and then licking their paws. Many pet owners have this concern, and rightly so. Most commercial lawn fertilizers contain ingredients that can be toxic to dogs or cause allergic reactions. Most fertilizers are a combination of ingredients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. […]
Too often, environmentalism is viewed as “extra.” It feels like a separate thing that you have to do on top of everything else in your life, instead of an integral framework for the way we live. Since modern society is designed around overconsumption and waste, it is true that being environmentally responsible requires more intention and effort than just not […]
To many Americans, the perfect lawn symbolizes success, time for leisure, social gatherings, and family fun. Unfortunately, keeping that grass perfectly green and well-maintained is resource-intensive. It requires irrigation, weeding, fertilizing, and mowing. And as lawn technology — including tools, fertilizers, pesticides, and watering systems — improves, we dedicate more resources to these highly manicured monocultures. A considerable amount of […]
Keeping a green lawn is often a priority for homeowners in the United States. In fact, a well-maintained lawn is often viewed as a sign of success and a “physical manifestation of the American Dream of home ownership,” as Krystal D’Costa observes in Scientific American. Keeping a green lawn throughout the warm season gives many homeowners a sense of pride, […]
Did you know that a gas-powered lawnmower emits 88 pounds of CO2 annually? The other gas-powered two-stroke engines used in yard tools, such as blowers and trimmers, contribute yet more CO2. Gas-powered lawn and garden tools contributed between 24% and 45% of the non-road gasoline emissions in the United States. By making the switch to electric yard tools, you and […]