Remember Odysseus?  On his journey home he had his men lash him to the mast so when he was lulled into complacency by the song of the Sirens his ship wouldn’t be directed off course.

    Does today’s riding lawn mower have anything in common with the ancient Greek Sirens?  Maybe so!  Who, aside from professional lawn care folks, doesn’t think it’s kind of cool to ride around on these cute little mini-tractors?  They’re relatively comfortable, require no physical exertion, and “work” gets done while riding - work that’s easier than any other lawn or garden chore I can think of. 

    If you’re like me, with a rider it’s easy to be lulled into deciding to trim up the yard more often than may actually be necessary, or to extend the mowed area.  We love seeing those green expanses!  And when riding is all it takes, it’s easy to keep lawns cleanly cropped.  (Imagine how our priorities would change if we did all this trimming using old-fashioned reel push mowers.) These beautiful green expanses are what we’ve come to expect.  But they exact a price.

• According to the EPA one gas powered lawn mower produces the same amount of volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides emissions air pollution in one hour of operation as 11 cars each being driven for one hour.
• Estimates vary, but it's likely Americans burn more than 600 million gallons of gasoline a year cutting grass.
• Somewhere between a third to half of residential water use is for lawn and garden irrigation; half is wasted by poor watering practices.
• Lakes, like those in Madison, continually struggle with excessive algae growth partially as a result of lawn fertilizer run-off.

    Perhaps the ease of those riders is a bit like a Siren song lulling us into frequent and expansive trips around the yard.  As sweet as the sounds of the Sirens were to Odysseus’ ears, he knew he’d have to limit his exposure to them if he ever wanted to reach home.  Likewise, as beautiful as those cropped green expanses are to our eyes, we may be wise to consider the benefits of including more natural, unmowed areas as part of our landscape. Wild flowers, prairie grasses, butterflies, birds and healthy lakes and steams are beautiful too – and necessary to a sustainable world.  After all, this planet is the only home we’ll ever know.  We are forever…Earthbound.

As if we didn’t have enough to be concerned about! TheAtlantic.com reports that cases of myopia, nearsightedness, are on the rise. 1.6 billion people worldwide have the condition. By 2020 it’s predicted that one in three people will be myopic.

In response, we propose the creation of the First Annual Myopia Awareness Season commencing the final day of school and slowly fading away sometime mid-September.  To combat this growing trend (especially in children), we recommend the following therapies: 

            Derma / Soil Compress – This involves daily applications of dirt to the skin.  Any kind of dirt will do.  It can be the rich humus that stains the palms and gets under the fingernails when gardening.  Or it could be the dirt that sticks to the faces of sweaty children playing outside.  A daily dose of dirt on the skin will slow the onset of myopia.

            Foot / Pedal Exercise – Regular application of one’s feet on bicycle pedals is also a useful preventative.  Stationary bikes do not count.  Neighborhood streets will do.  But the best results come from country roads and bike trails where one can feel the air rushing past as the smell of fields and woodlands permeates the surroundings, and creatures scurry at the surprise of approaching wheels.

            Hydro-Therapy – Also know as the “Go Jump in the Lake” cure.  Any body of water will do, but the concrete and chlorine of a swimming pool does not provide the depth of relief that the smells, sounds, and unexpected encounters with the frogs and fish in lakes, rivers and ponds do.  The muck between one’s toes alone makes this therapy worthwhile.

            Myopia affects the eyeball; this physical ailment is spreading because more and more time is spent staring at screens of one type or another.  The “therapies” listed here will get us out of the house where our eyes can constantly shift focus from insects hovering near-by to the sunset on the horizon.

            Excessive screen time may result in a more insidious type of myopia that infects the very core of our being i.e. an underdeveloped relationship with the natural world.  What better way to instill the far-sighted wisdom necessary for stewardship of the environment than to commit to “no child left indoors” this summer with children of all ages.  A deep appreciation of the natural world benefits us all because this is our only home.  We are forever…Earthbound.

Energy Over-Eaters Anonymous

            The banner over the doorway reads, “Energy Over-Eaters Anonymous…All are Welcome.”  He hesitantly finds a chair in the back; the speaker is giving a testimonial.  Then it’s his turn.

            “My name is America, and I’m an energy over-eater. As a super-power, it’s not surprising that I consume more energy than other nations.  But something about my consumption habit just didn’t seem right, so I thought I’d better check my numbers.   It wasn’t pretty.

            “My fossil fuel habit has gotten out of control.  Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution I’ve accounted for over 27% of global carbon emissions.  Here’s the embarrassing part; I have only 5% of the world’s population!  Recently my pal, China, has surpassed my annual emissions.  But she has 4 times my population.  Per capita, I still emit twice as much as China does.  I’m spending way too much on fossil fuel and not doing the environment any favors either.

            “Addictions are hard to break, but I know I can do it because my countrymen are smart! Take the folks in southwest Wisconsin for example.  They’re beginning to hear about a proposed huge new high capacity power line that would run right through their landscape.  Funny thing is, my own U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that the demand for electrical power will grow by less than 1% annually.  Instead of saddling our ratepayers to millions of dollars of infrastructure and maintenance costs, we could choose a better way.  With a few smart conservation measures we’d eliminate that growth rate and use even less electricity than we currently do - no expensive power lines, no additional fuel costs, less pollution.

            “It’s estimated that 2-4 cents/KWh invested in user conservation would eliminate the need for new natural gas electrical generation that costs 6-8 cents/KWh.  Why pay more for power we wouldn’t need if we just use what we have more wisely?  That 2-4 cents/KWh would help consumers install programmable thermostats, power strips to reduce ‘vampire’ loads, LED lighting, solar water heating and so on.”

            “That’s why we hold these meetings,” interrupted the program director.  “It’s not healthy being energy over-eaters.  It costs too much and pollutes this world we need to care for.  After all, this is the only home we’ll ever know.  All nations are forever… Earthbound.”

(Learn more about the proposed power line expansion at Sustain Iowa County - 608-987-3835.)