Environmental Science

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer maintains that lawn mowers may have been designed to make green suburban lawns look prettier, but they are anything but green, in terms of their effects on the environment, because they lack catalytic converters. The writer discusses that the largest lawn and garden equipment maker in the country and a powerful Republican senator are hampering attempts by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state regulators in California to clean up the way Americans clean up their lawns. Further, the writer shows how the battle over catalytic converters in lawn mowers shows how economics, politics and good environmental policy often come into conflict.

From the Paper:

"Lawn mowers may have been designed to make green suburban lawns look prettier, but they are anything but green in terms of their effects on the environment because they lack catalytic converters. Today, all cars must have catalytic converters to protect the environment. This means the dirtiest engines lurk, not in the nation's garages, but in the tool sheds across the land. And the debate over requiring lawn mowers to release the amount of emissions they can release into the environment is eerily reminiscent of Detroit's unsuccessful battle in the 1970s against environmentalists and consumer activists who wanted to reduce the effects of car exhaust upon the environment by installing catalytic converters."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Barringer, Felicity. (24 Apr 2006) "A Greener Way to Cut the Grass Runs Afoul of a Powerful Lobby." The New York Times. Retrieved 26 Apr 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nextag/nextagpopunder320_06.html
• "Springtime Tips for the Environment." (2006) Environmental Protection Agency. Official Website. Retrieved 26 Apr 2006 at http://www.epa.gov/

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