Swapped my gas lawn mower for a reel mower back in May and it changed everything

I used to fire up my old Toro gas mower every Saturday, burning through a gallon of gas each month just to keep the yard looking decent. In May I finally got a manual reel mower, one of those simple Fiskars ones with the spinning blades, for about $80 at the hardware store. Now I'm outside for 20 minutes pushing it around, no fumes, no noise, and I get a bit of exercise without feeling guilty. Has anyone else made the switch to a non-powered mower and noticed a difference in their carbon footprint?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_andrew29d ago

Oh boy, here we go with the carbon footprint guilt trip. Look, I'm all for saving a few bucks on gas, but let's not pretend pushing a manual mower around is saving the planet in any meaningful way. You're burning more calories and breathing harder, which probably cancels out any tiny emissions savings anyway.

matthewross29d ago

Respectfully, I gotta disagree on the breathing thing. Your lungs aren't a tailpipe. Burning a gallon of gas puts about 20 pounds of CO2 into the air, and a typical gas mower uses like half a gallon per hour. Meanwhile, the carbon you breathe out is just recycled from plants you ate, not new fossil fuel carbon. So the math works out differently than you're making it sound. Plus, a reel mower cuts cleaner and doesn't spill oil or gas on the lawn, which is nice if you actually care about the soil. Not saying everyone needs to switch, but the savings aren't totally imaginary either.