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Lawn mowing is among the top most useless energy wasting human activities. It's noisy (of course nobody syncs with neighbours to mow so you can be sure to hear

Lawn mowing is among the top most useless energy wasting human activities. It's noisy (of course nobody syncs with neighbours to mow so you can be sure to hear mowing noise every day), polluting, and so fucking useless.

parenthesis 5y ago
I understand lawn mowing, what I don't understand is people mowing tiny bits of grass with powered mowers. I use a push mower, about once a week (and I leave the clippings on the lawn). It's really enjoyable.
chlorion 5y ago
In some areas you have no choice, otherwise your entire house will be swallowed by tall weeds and other stuff. It also can create safety issues with snakes and other creatures coming close to the house. I can't imagine living in a house totally surrounded by 4 foot high grass!
nsxwolf 5y ago
It looks really nice, which is the point.
- devmunchies 5y ago
  then people take it too far and get turf lawns which look terrible IMO. its the uncanny too-much-plastic-surgery of lawns.
ironmagma 5y ago
Not noisy or polluting if you use an electric mower. Useless, kind of, although I appreciate not having a literal million insects floating into my house when I open the door (I live in FL) so it keeps those populations in check. Most of the macro bugs know the mower is coming and hop out of the way.
- smileysteve 5y ago
  > it keeps those populations in check This is an interesting word choice to use as pollinators approach endangerment. Akin to suggesting that deer hunting season should be extended until there are no longer any deer near roadways in FL.
  - ironmagma 5y ago
    From what I have heard from science communicators, the bee problem is mostly of commercial bee populations. My backyard definitely has enough.
rascul 5y ago
It's not pointless. It's nice for myself and my dog to be able to use my yard without catching ticks. Seeing where I step when I walk is a nice perk. Also I like to minimize the places that rodents and other animals can live around my house, to minimize on the damage they cause to my house. My mower was down for the better part of the year last year and it was not pleasant for me or my dog.
- hanniabu 5y ago
  Plants clover instead of grass and you can still use your yard perfectly fine
  - rascul 5y ago
    Some of my yard already is clover. It still needs mowing from time to time. I have no interest in spending the time and money to replace grass with clover. Edit: I'm not particularly attached to grass. If clover took over and pushed the grass out, I wouldn't be upset about it. Another edit: A clover lawn also might not be durable enough for the usage much my yard gets.
  - popol12 5y ago
    https://www.whygoodnature.com/microclover https://www.whygoodnature.com/microclover Great finding, thanks
cableshaft 5y ago
As someone who tends to be a super inconsistent lawnmower and often goes 3+ weeks in between mowing, I'm not sure I totally agree. Leaving the lawn to grow out for more than three weeks makes it pretty unusable, especially for our dogs, with giant weeds (with spikes that hurt the dogs' legs) and thistle bushes and whatnot, and when you do mow it takes 2-3 times as long and the mower tends to get clogged up a bunch, and you need to extra careful about not hitting a rabbit or other nest, which might have been built in your yard because the weeds got so deep. When I do mow I do try to leave some patches of clover for bees, though, and let some thistle plants grow in a few clumps. I do wish people wouldn't obsessively mow and poison their lawns with weed killer to keep their lawns only consisting of grass, though. Nothing wrong with dandelions and clover and the occasional thistle. As for polluting, I use a plug-in electric mower, so it doesn't really pollute much. I do wish electric mowers were the norm.
- Forgeties79 5y ago
  Plant local flora/grasses that don’t need constant management. The manicured lawns we generally do are full of non-native plants and require more care.
  - cableshaft 5y ago
    There's a prairie right beyond my backyard. We get plenty of local flora from it. Still needs to be mowed periodically.
- ghaff 5y ago
  And where I live in New England, it will grow to very tall grass, brush, and eventually trees which you really don't want right up to the house because it's a potential fire hazard and you can't easily even walk around the house through it after a while. I don't have most of my property mowed (just basically a band around the house) and I don't apply weed killer/water to it. I do have someone knock the field down with a tractor brush hog once a year so it doesn't transition to forest which it would on its own.
  - 5y ago
chiefalchemist 5y ago
Electric mowers are much less noisy. But lawn services don't use them and in my area - central NJ burbs - I would estimate 50% or more hire a lawn service.
madiator 5y ago
And a waste of time and water and of opportunity cost.
pid-1 5y ago
A friend of mine started raising chickens for eggs last year. One of the unexpected upsides is that they will prevent grass from growing too much. Not for everyone, but sure an interesting solution.

parenthesis 5y ago

I understand lawn mowing, what I don't understand is people mowing tiny bits of grass with powered mowers. I use a push mower, about once a week (and I leave the clippings on the lawn). It's really enjoyable.

chlorion 5y ago

In some areas you have no choice, otherwise your entire house will be swallowed by tall weeds and other stuff. It also can create safety issues with snakes and other creatures coming close to the house. I can't imagine living in a house totally surrounded by 4 foot high grass!

nsxwolf 5y ago

It looks really nice, which is the point.

devmunchies 5y ago
then people take it too far and get turf lawns which look terrible IMO. its the uncanny too-much-plastic-surgery of lawns.

ironmagma 5y ago

Not noisy or polluting if you use an electric mower. Useless, kind of, although I appreciate not having a literal million insects floating into my house when I open the door (I live in FL) so it keeps those populations in check. Most of the macro bugs know the mower is coming and hop out of the way.

smileysteve 5y ago
> it keeps those populations in check This is an interesting word choice to use as pollinators approach endangerment. Akin to suggesting that deer hunting season should be extended until there are no longer any deer near roadways in FL.
- ironmagma 5y ago
  From what I have heard from science communicators, the bee problem is mostly of commercial bee populations. My backyard definitely has enough.

rascul 5y ago

It's not pointless. It's nice for myself and my dog to be able to use my yard without catching ticks. Seeing where I step when I walk is a nice perk. Also I like to minimize the places that rodents and other animals can live around my house, to minimize on the damage they cause to my house. My mower was down for the better part of the year last year and it was not pleasant for me or my dog.

hanniabu 5y ago
Plants clover instead of grass and you can still use your yard perfectly fine
- rascul 5y ago
  Some of my yard already is clover. It still needs mowing from time to time. I have no interest in spending the time and money to replace grass with clover. Edit: I'm not particularly attached to grass. If clover took over and pushed the grass out, I wouldn't be upset about it. Another edit: A clover lawn also might not be durable enough for the usage much my yard gets.
- popol12 5y ago
  https://www.whygoodnature.com/microclover https://www.whygoodnature.com/microclover Great finding, thanks

cableshaft 5y ago

As someone who tends to be a super inconsistent lawnmower and often goes 3+ weeks in between mowing, I'm not sure I totally agree. Leaving the lawn to grow out for more than three weeks makes it pretty unusable, especially for our dogs, with giant weeds (with spikes that hurt the dogs' legs) and thistle bushes and whatnot, and when you do mow it takes 2-3 times as long and the mower tends to get clogged up a bunch, and you need to extra careful about not hitting a rabbit or other nest, which might have been built in your yard because the weeds got so deep. When I do mow I do try to leave some patches of clover for bees, though, and let some thistle plants grow in a few clumps. I do wish people wouldn't obsessively mow and poison their lawns with weed killer to keep their lawns only consisting of grass, though. Nothing wrong with dandelions and clover and the occasional thistle. As for polluting, I use a plug-in electric mower, so it doesn't really pollute much. I do wish electric mowers were the norm.

Forgeties79 5y ago
Plant local flora/grasses that don’t need constant management. The manicured lawns we generally do are full of non-native plants and require more care.
- cableshaft 5y ago
  There's a prairie right beyond my backyard. We get plenty of local flora from it. Still needs to be mowed periodically.
ghaff 5y ago
And where I live in New England, it will grow to very tall grass, brush, and eventually trees which you really don't want right up to the house because it's a potential fire hazard and you can't easily even walk around the house through it after a while. I don't have most of my property mowed (just basically a band around the house) and I don't apply weed killer/water to it. I do have someone knock the field down with a tractor brush hog once a year so it doesn't transition to forest which it would on its own.
- 5y ago

chiefalchemist 5y ago

Electric mowers are much less noisy. But lawn services don't use them and in my area - central NJ burbs - I would estimate 50% or more hire a lawn service.

madiator 5y ago

And a waste of time and water and of opportunity cost.

pid-1 5y ago

A friend of mine started raising chickens for eggs last year. One of the unexpected upsides is that they will prevent grass from growing too much. Not for everyone, but sure an interesting solution.