101–110 of 150 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lawns use ridiculous amounts of water for zero agricultural productivity.
Unless that water makes it to a street drain, it’s a 100% renewable resource. When that water evaporates, it goes up in the air, and then falls back down as water.
Well, fact is they're very, very useful. I spent a solid couple of decades poo pooing them. Finally tried one, and was instantly sold. It's not just the time savings either, blowers allow doing jobs that just aren't very feasible otherwise. I can get rid of leaves and debris from stony/leafy surfaces and structures that can't be raked. I can clear snow from rough whole rock paths all winter, and it will completely cl…
New electric blower owner here, thanks for the additional detail. Mine has 2 batteries too and I don't come close to discharging them in 15 minutes, so a big win. I don't think I've had to use the maximum flow setting yet.
Well, fact is they're very, very useful. I spent a solid couple of decades poo pooing them. Finally tried one, and was instantly sold. It's not just the time savings either, blowers allow doing jobs that just aren't very feasible otherwise. I can get rid of leaves and debris from stony/leafy surfaces and structures that can't be raked. I can clear snow from rough whole rock paths all winter, and it will completely cl…
Well I'm sold. How did humanity survive without such a life changing invention? /s
But seriously. What are the things that you couldn't do before that you've suddenly discovered that you can't live without?
Well, fact is they're very, very useful. I spent a solid couple of decades poo pooing them. Finally tried one, and was instantly sold. It's not just the time savings either, blowers allow doing jobs that just aren't very feasible otherwise. I can get rid of leaves and debris from stony/leafy surfaces and structures that can't be raked. I can clear snow from rough whole rock paths all winter, and it will completely cl…
> It's not just the time savings either, blowers allow doing jobs that just aren't very feasible otherwise. Well I'm sold. How did humanity survive without such a life changing invention? /s But seriously. What are the things that you couldn't do before that you've suddenly discovered that you can't live without?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why people would put so much effort into growing useless grass is astonishing to me. You can grow anything there and you choose grass? Why? I assume it has to do with an HOA? Or aesthetics? Or it’s easier?
I’ve always taken grass as a granted for landscaping in climates that support it. Didn’t know there was so much hate for grass until this thread. I think grass is utilitarian. It’s carpet for outside. The kids can play on it, you can bbq on it, have a picnic, etc. As for why you’d want to keep it short? Bugs, utility, etc. The taller you let it grow, the less usable the space is and the more critters move in (critter…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even without lawns people will use leaf blowers to blow leaves, off their driveways or xeriscapes or whatever. So we should ban gas powered leaf blowers regardless.
I think he means that everybody should be made to live in apartments or condos, without any sort of garden, patios, etc. Dense urban living for everybody.
I don't get leaf blowers really. I'd love to have some sort of paper bag and connector to my lawn mower. I have my bag and just getting it into the brown bag is a little bit of a pain. But man - you just do it once and you don't have to cajole the leaves for 10s of minutes.
Is there a reason you don't just let the lawn mower mulch them up and leave them on the ground? After I mow over my leaves they pretty much disappear into the grass.
Right at the very bottom the article suggests the correct way to deal with fallen leaves: leave them alone. They decompose and provide nutrients to the grass.
i tried this with the 50 foot sycamore in my back yard and the leaves didn't decompose at all. they fell and froze. then in the spring when things thawed out, they formed a thick wet mat that suffocated and killed everything underneath.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practic... says "Lawns are the most grown crop in the U.S." - would be interesting to see more detailed data on that.
The vast majority of lawns don’t get watered aside from the rain.
It's only in the past decade or so new development has started requiring drought tolerant landscaping. Municipalities have also recently introduced ordinances to limit watering. But this is all a reaction to the serious droughts we've had rather than being proactive.
Well, fact is they're very, very useful. I spent a solid couple of decades poo pooing them. Finally tried one, and was instantly sold. It's not just the time savings either, blowers allow doing jobs that just aren't very feasible otherwise. I can get rid of leaves and debris from stony/leafy surfaces and structures that can't be raked. I can clear snow from rough whole rock paths all winter, and it will completely cl…
> It's not just the time savings either, blowers allow doing jobs that just aren't very feasible otherwise. Well I'm sold. How did humanity survive without such a life changing invention? /s But seriously. What are the things that you couldn't do before that you've suddenly discovered that you can't live without?
>But seriously. What are the things that you couldn't do before that you've suddenly discovered that you can't live without?
This is a bad faith logical fallacy, namely an Appeal to Extremes amongst other ones. "This provides value" is not remotely synonymous with "can't live without". "Humanity survived" without antibiotics, vaccines, electricity in general, houses, or Hacker News. That does not necessarily mean we were better off without them or that it's wrong to choose to spend some energy budget on them so long as externalities are accounted for.
I explained how I found it very valuable, albeit without getting into things like slip risk on ice or leaves, increasing numbers of ticks and disease risk from them, difficulties as one gets older etc. How about you explain why electric blowers powered by my solar panels are a bad thing?