59 Reasons To Stop Mowing Down The Green God Grows Poem by O Anna Niemus

Nonmowing turns empty lots
through time into forests
Sometimes the most powerful actions
involve inaction

*********
59 Reasons Not To Mow

Ron Howard, director of A Beautiful Mind and many other films, made his first film at age 8.. an anti mowing film which showed the nature of mowers' attacks on lawns.

In 2003 through now, the world has seen drought, floods, famine, fire, omudslides, hurricanes, tornados and other disasters created by the unprecedented destruction of trees around the world. Trees are nature's weather stabilizers. We need trillions of trees.. new trees.

UN agencies have said reduced or ended lawnmowing
and treecutting will slow down global heating. The 1990's
EPA published legal briefs available without cost to
those fighting compulsory mowing ordinances. Highway departments have found that bushes are better than mowed
median strips.

The government of Thailand has banned logging.


GROW FREE FOOD.PREVENT MOWER ACCIDENTS.PROTECT SAPLING TREES.CREATE OXYGEN.SAVE TIME. CONSERVE FUEL.SAVE MONEY.GUARD FREEDOM.INVOKE RAIN. STABILIZE WEATHER PATTERNS. STOP MUDSLIDES.BUFFER NOISE. PREVENT FLOODS.FOSTER WILDLIFE HABITAT. FILTER AIR

In the preBush years the EPA had joined the environmental groups promoting nonmowing. The Green Party and many Libertarians also support nonmowing. In June of 2002, NPR reported that the Congressional Black Caucus has a better record than either white Democrats or white Republicans in environmental issues.

I: ENVIRONMENTAL (THE REDUCTION OF ENVIRONMENTALMANIPULATION)
]1. REFORESTATION When one stops mowing, land becomes meadow and then thicket and then woods. reforesting the world.
2. OXYGEN CREATION This extra greenery creates oxygen.The average tree creates 5 pounds of oxygen daily.
3. AIR PURIFICATION More greenery purifies the air through leaf filtration a.particulate matter b. car fumes c. noxious gases d. other airborn toxins. Removal of carbon dioxide by plants ameliorates pollution.
4. TEMPERATURE STABILIZATION TO OFFSET GLOBAL WARMING Warms the world's winters and cools the summers. There is a 50 degree difference between 70 degree equatorial rainforest and 120 degree desert. Each blade of grass is a little air conditioner. A world without drought, flood, famine, freezes, and killer heat can be eliminated by literally covering the world with trees.
5. RAIN INVOCATION Greenery calls down rain. Bayard Webster of the NY Times wrote that each mature tree evaporates 40 gallons of moisture daily (much greater amounts for older trees.) All greenery is involved in the raincycle.The drought and consequent starvation in N. Korea was related to the cutting of nearly all trees for fuel.
6. DEW PRESERVATION More plants preserve dew. Not only do greenspires and leaves act as masts around which dew can gather, but the more greenery the longer the dew lasts.
7. NOISE BUFFERING Leaf volume weaves a noise buffer which screens out unpleasant traffic
8. NOISE PREVENTION Ends the peace-fracturing sound of the lawnmower. Some communities have noise ordinances which prevent mowing during normal sleeping hours.
9. VISUAL BEAUTY Multiplies the beauty of diversity
10. FRAGRANCE Multiplies the fragrance in the air.
11. HEALING GREEN Nonmowing creates optical healing bycreating more greenery. Research has proven that looking on the jadeand forest greens reduces heartbeat and creates peace.
12. LANDFILL ECONOMY Letting lawns grow wild reduces pressure onlandfills..by not adding leaves to overburdenedsystems (and saves the fuel and wages of collectionreleasing workers for the labor of their hearts) . (NPR Sept 1: methanegases leach from landfill through water into basements) As the worldevolves away from treekilling, sawdust piles which are a byproductof the lumber industry will be removed, making the earth safer forchildren.
13. FUEL CONSERVATION Conserves fuel a. unused inunused mowersb. As evergreen trees break cold winter winds andshroud dwellings they are natural insulation.
14. HYDROCARBON REDUCTION Prevents hydrocarbon moweremission from polluting the air. Many media outlets are passing ontheEPA recommendation that lawns not bemowed when there is great humidity and heat. Hydrocarbons create ozone alerts.
15. CARBON DIOXIDE Greenery which takes in carbondioxide and breathes out oxygen reduces gases toxic to humans.
15a. METHANE GAS and toxic gases are purified by leaf action.
16. TORNADO PREVENTION Unstable heat is the mainfactor in tornados. Greenery which reduces the temperature 30 degreesin forest areas prevents tornados.
17. MUDSLIDE PREVENTION The roots of living plantsabsorb great amounts of water and prevent mudslides.
18. FLOOD PREVENTION A. On river banks and everywhere, tree, plant, bush, and vine roots are flood preventers. As David Kidd of Canton, planterofmore than a million trees has stated, the bigger and older the treethemore work it does. (The 900 year old oaks with their huge diametersare a lot more precious to Mother Earth than skinny young trees.B. Ohio Public Radio David C. Barnett Sept 9th: reported on reductionof impervious surface by reducing concrete and addinggreenery. (The hard asphalt, concrete, and rooftops create morerunoff and flooding.) C. Bricks and stones in roads are better for theenvironment than are concrete and asphalt. They allow rain through the inter-brick space and have less blistering heat. Angel strips not devilstrips (Planting grape trellises over highways re-greens theearth and creates food.)
19. DESERTIFICATION PREVENTION
Only reforestation canprevent desertification. This is the conclusion of Patrick Velasquezof US Agency For International Development and most other environmentalists. We used to think a pine cone was one seed, but apparently it is hundreds.
20. CHEMICAL POLLUTION REDUCTION Radio network show Public Interest October 7 featuring Rodale author: Chemically treated lawns are grass high on drugs.: Fertilizer has toxic byproducts forthe land and water. Rodale, Emmaus Pennsylvania, USA 18049 is oneleader in the organic movement.
21. FASTEST CLEANUP OF TOXIC DUMPS
Green island sanctuaries of unmolested plants, insects, and wildlife are a protection against the biotechmanipulationsof the environment.
22. WATERSHED PROTECTION The more greenery, plants, vines, trees, and bushes..the more the watershed, reservoirs, and lakes and ponds, brooks andstreams are protected.a. Arsenic is a byproduct of the pressed woodindustry. Arsenic is poisonous in the waters, and likeother industrial pollutants such as mercury, chromiumand polychlorinated biphenols is concentrated in the flesh of fishes.
23. BIODIVERSITY Nonmowing or letting Gd be the landscaper createsbiodiversity and its many benefits (and benefirs) rather thanmonoculture. (Loggers last year caused the death of David Chain, Earth First tree activist.
24. FIRE PREVENTION In March of 2001, widescale drought in the NW had been reported. Destruction of greenery is one cause of this. Trees'evaporation is necessary in cloud formation. Fires have destroyed untold tens of thousands of square miles of green beings and resident animals.
25. FREE FOOD
Fruit and nut trees with grape and bean vines spaced among the trees can yield 450,000 lbs. per acre. (Animal flesh yields a maximum 100 to 1000 pounds per acre.) Ted Steinberg writes that in the US alone an area the size of Florida
is devoted to unproductive lawns.
26. WATER CONSERVATION: Unmowed areas do not need watering.. they are self contained systems. Nor do they need recycling. Most lawns
are watered for growth
and then the growth is cut and
discarded.
27. INSECTICIDE AND HERBICIDE PREVENTION: Carpet lawn enthusiasts pollute the environment with insecticides and herbicides in some cases.

II HUMAN RIGHTS:

1. FEEDING THE HUNGRY: FOOD CREATION Prevents famineby giving a cornucopia of free food to the planet Orchards are 450times as productive per acre as slaughterhouses..Dr. Faust, former chief of the USDA Fruit Labs, cited centenarian orchards ofapple trees dropping two tons each of food. This is 400,000 lbs peracreas compared to 100 to 1000 lbs of food for meat,10,000 lbs fordairy,80,000 lbs. for acre. The 400 to l ratio is only the firststep. Trilevel agriculture.. with bean and other vines around thetree trunks and other foodyielding plants in the interarborealspaces.. yield even more. This also can be multiplied by those areaswhich have 2 or 3 growing seasons..e.g. Southern California. Becausecertain economic systems promote scarcity based profit, these orchardsystems have been deemphasized.
2. PREVENTION OF DEATH AND INJURY 2a. Prevents in the U.S. alone,75,000 accidents and some fatalities annually caused bymowers and harvesters, and around the world millions of accidentseliminated. NPR reported May 17,2002 that tractor rollovers are the leading cause of death among farmers, and that farming in general is the 2nd most hazardous occupation (after commercial fishing) .
2b. Ravines are generally more protected from mowing, as there is wider recognition of the danger of mowing.
2c. When grass is mowed on hillsides, when wet orexceedingly dry it can cause slipping accidents.
2d, There have even been drownings
from lawnmower accidents as teens
and adults dropp into unseen septic
tanks.
2e. One of every 5 lawnmower or
machine harvester deaths, says
the Consumer Product Safety
Commissions, involves a child.



3. PREVENTION OF HEART ATTACKS As non shoveling of snow can prevent winter heart attacks nonmowing can sometimes prevent summer ones.
4. FREEDOM Health departments are reducing the forcedcrewcutting of lawns and the rending ofMother Nature's garments. See below for further info.
5. EMPTY JAILS Saves money otherwise spent on jailing people (seeabove)
6. PRIVACY Creates a privacy screen. Ways to avoidgrass (a transitional plant unless land is constantly mowed) includea. pachysandra b. myrtle and other ground cover c. grape vinetrellises d. evergreen trees and shrubs as natural fences e.berry bushes as natural boundaries.
7. HERBAL REMEDIES Nonmowing allows healing extracts and seeds to flourish, e.g. milkthistle seeds, which regenerate cirrhosis-afflicted livers. The active ingredient is silymarin.
Work against those who seek to patentthe world's pre-existing seeds.

8. KEEPS WASPS FRIENDLY prevents wasp stings and hiveattacks as their homes are destroyed.
9. ECONOMICS MINT MONEY
I It's not counterfeiting but minting money to plant
olive trees which yield olive oil at $20 a gallon or macadamias
.. pears.. blueberries.. apples.
II a. saves money otherwise spent on fuel b. Saves money otherwise spent on young trees.c. Fruit trees save money spent on food. d. Free up lawnmower crews to create with
their time. e. For that minority who hire lawn crews, money
is saved. Seth Godin says 17 billion a year
is spent on lawnmowing expenses.
10. TIME ECONOMY frees human time hours for enjoyablepriorities a. no gas procurement time, no mowing time, no rakingtime.
11. HERITAGE: The Native American culturenever spent time mowing Mother Earth. Her green cover is her garment.Lawn mowing is a fairly recent thing. The original lawn mowers were sheep and other animals later slaughtered for their flesh. The Time Life Gardening Yearbook mentions the 'chipped monotypic layer of bluegrass', the crewcut which is called alawn. Other ecologists speak about the hazards of monoculture.
12. FREE CONCERTS Cicadas and crickets will give freeconcerts, as will woodpeckers, songbirds whose habitats are restored.Fireflies will put on silent fireworks. Buttercupswill save chalices of dew for butterflies who in turn will coolthe earth with the slight breeze from their fanning wings.
13. WEED KILLER OR HERBICIDE use (Diane Rehm Show Sept1) causes childhood and other environmental pollutant basedcancers. Some leaches into the water system. Some is directly smearedonto skin.
14. INSECTICIDE BASED CANCERS: Insecticides weredeveloped as weapons in WW 2. At the end of the war, chemicalcompanies wanted new markets. These insecticides cause cancer. (NPRSept 1) Animal products concentrate insecticides at 21 times theintensity they occur in fruits and vegetables, since a 1000 lb.cow ate 21,000 lbs. of food with nondegradable insecticides remaining in the muscle cells.
15. PREVENTION OF ASTHMA
While the chief physical cause of asthma
is the mucus lining in the respiratory
tract created by meat, fish and dairy
products and the prime spiritual
cause is fear or emotional stress,
land allowed to grow gradually
into fields and then thickets and
finally woods provides less pollen.
16. HEALING: Studies of recovering gall bladder patients reveal that those looking on a garden heal faster than those not. (BJ 6 6 2000) There are now herbal therapists at Univ of Kansas, Rutgers, Texas A&M, and Virginia Tech. Those who look on living green have reduced blood pressure. The plant yarrow makes children in its proximity less agressive within a few moments. An ancient vedic parable says that to be healed one should look upongreen. Rather than paint the world that color, a sage says'put on green glasses'. (The best green glasses are living in an environment of green.)
(Plant rights advocates to not support
the killing of plants for herbs.)
17. PREVENTION OF GUN ACCIDENTS
There has been at least one shooting
caused by an irate reaction to
the noise of the lawnmower.
(Above are reasons 19 through 36)
18. PREVENTION OF MENTAL ILLNESS
Is it a form of control freakdom
to want to mow down what God
greengrows?
19. PREVENTION OF NEIGHBOR FIGHTS
Countless fights have been caused when someone's mower cuts down
his neighbor's flowers or shrubs.
20. HERBICIDES used by ChemLawn
and other lawn treatment companies
are poisoning the earth's waters,
causing cancer deaths to people,
animals, fishes, and plants.
21. BOREDOM Lawns are boring.
22. OPPOSE THE FORCE OF THE LOWEST COMMON
DENOMINATOR
It is wrong to force compliance with narrow, truncated
and conventional ideas of aesthetics.


COTTON PAPER LASTS FOUR HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS. TREEPAPER LASTS SIXY YEARS.

III ANIMAL RIGHTS:

1. WILDLIFE HABITAT Reprovides a home for wildlife, both those not endangered and those which are.Keeps birds from flying away when the power motors are started.
2 ANIMAL RIGHTS: MACHINE HARVESTERS SHRED MANY MAMMALS PER ACRE Protects insects, redwinged blackbirdsand other living creatures nesting in ground cover, and preventsthe mastication deaths of millions of small field animals chewed up in harvesters.. (Sometimes the tiny feet of these animals can be seen in cans of food.) In Numbers 22, God causes a donkey to speak about the beatings of her human 'owner'.Along Lake Michigan in parts of Chicago are new signs indicating not mowing is done to give birds long grasses in which to nest.
3 PRESERVE WILDLIFE FOOD SUPPLY: Not removing acorns leaves food for squirrels and other wildlife during the winter as well as providing new sapling oaks in the spring. Not removing leaves provides more thermal shelter for northern animals.
4. SONGBIRDS ATTRACTED TO WILD AREAS...............
James Marcus: Dandelions: they must be God's favorite flower for He plants them everywhere.

IV: PLANT RIGHTS.


1 PLANTS' RIGHTS Protect the rights of sentient plants whose feelings have been documented by Dr. Chandra Bose, knighted by the Queen of England for his laboratory measurement of plant consciousness. Other scientists who have proven or written of plant consciousness ares are Clive Baxter, Luther Burbank, The Secret Life Of Plants writers, , the owner to whose rights, Isaac Tigrett, sold all the Hard Rock Cafes he founded after becoming a vegetarian.
Pachysandra, myrtle, snow on themountain, and camomile are some ground covers which do not offend moreconservative neighbors.
2: WILDFLOWER SANCTUARY Those like Lady Bird Johnson who have worked to foster protection of wildflowers know thenecessityof more wild places.
3: ENDING BOTANICAL RACISM E.Woodford spoke to poster of botanical racism. This phrase means different things to different people. To us it means that weeds have as much right to exist as do plants with cultivated blooms.The spirit-filled volunteers called weeds are usually stronger, more and more prolific than cultivated plants.
4. PROTECTING PLANTS YOU LOVE
Lawn crews are not as concerned as you about your young
magnolia trees, your sapling fruit and nut trees, your wisteria
and climatis vines.
V. DIVINE RIGHT:
1. Mother Earth blesses those who abandon controlling and manipulating her. She is the perfect landscape architect
because she is a landscaper, not a landscraper.
2. Why fight God who lets green grass grow.
God does not like lawnmowers.

Constantina Fiorentino, landscape architect, was asked to
be a witness by a family who had had their laisser faire lawn mowed
by a local health department. Asked by the judge if she would
consider the yard an example of her best work, she replied
'In time'

If you would like to join the Nonmowing Coalition, you need
only send an email to plantslovefruitarians@yahoo.com. There is no
financial, work, or other obligation.

In an editorial on March 19,1977, the Washington Post editorialized: 'the tall grass can only benefit the citizens who seek the beauty of Rock Creek Park'. That year the National Park Service instituted a 'meadows' program to let some areas return to nature. The Post mentioned the federal court casevictory of an Akron citizen who fought the city's compulsory lawnmowing ordinance. 'Nature is ready to cooperate.Some citizen cooperation is next.' In addition the Post's Richard Cohen reported on a lawn mowed by a guinea pig named Bijou.Phil Shenon of the New York Times has covered no-mow activists such as Alice Herrington, then president of Friends of Animals. Patrick Velasquez of the US Agency For International Development studied Senegalese forest. He said the cost of planting other country exotics there was $25 to $50 per tree, with 19% survival rate whereas natural regeneration (which occurs from nonmowing) is free. The USDA in 1998 has signed onto the National Wildlife Federation's Backyard Conservation plan.. which encourages people to let the area behind their homes grow wild for the sake of the environment. Even these corporate media and hunting promotion groups are promoting the environment. 'Corn on the curb' is anincreasingly visible thing.