Q: How much carbon dioxide is emitted from power tools, such as hedge clippers, lawnmowers, and chainsaws? Can you give amounts as a whole and by tool?

 

—Karen in Gainesville, Florida

 

A: Gasoline-powered lawn and garden equipment (GLGE) in the United States emits a total of 20.4 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, and that number is projected to reach almost 23 million tons in a few years, according to the EPA. This sounds like a lot, but it's only about four-tenths of a percent of the more than 6 billion tons of CO2 we emit every year.

 

We burn a lot more gasoline going nowhere in cars than chasing lawnmowers or wielding those detestable, snarling leaf blowers. But GLGE devices cough out a lot of other pollution, like 5 percent of U.S. nitrous oxide, a powerful global-warming gas.

 

It's tough to determine how much CO2 comes from specific tools. The EPA estimates that of the 120 million devices in use, approximately 40 percent are lawnmowers. About 20 percent are trimmers, while the rest are leaf blowers, chainsaws, and snowblowers, among others.

 

Here's my annual appeal: You don't need that mower anyway. Rip out your lawn and put that space to more productive use. During World War II, 40 percent of our produce was grown at home or in "victory gardens." Post war, the culture changed: The aesthetic of the lawn prevailed, and waging chemical warfare to annihilate dandelions—instead of eating them—became a lucrative industry.