# lawn mower pollution
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawn-mower-pollution/658689
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [May 18, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawn-mower-pollution/658689 "2013-05-18T17:19:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@3wheeler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3wheeler)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawn-mower-pollution/658689/1 "2013-05-18T17:19:41Z")
New regs for 2012 are just more evidence of EPA “feel good” policy with no impact other than to make our dollars worth less. The fact that global warming has ceased for the past sixteen years even without global cooperation is evidence that enforcing laws already in place and not pouring gasoline in the water supply will suffice.
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawn-mower-pollution/658689/2 "2013-05-18T18:04:55Z")
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, **3wheeler** , we’re glad you found us.
When one starts a thread, it’s helpful to other readers to provide a link to the column in question. There are a couple thousand columns in the Archives, and a link helps keep us on the same page. I’m assuming it’s this one from 2010: [Does using a gasoline-powered lawn mower produce as much pollution as driving an SUV 300 miles? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2967/does-using-a-gasoline-powered-lawn-mower-produce-as-much-pollution-as-driving-an-suv-300-miles)
No biggie, you’ll know for next time; and, as I say, welcome!
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### Author:  [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lawn-mower-pollution/658689/3 "2013-05-18T19:18:22Z")
> [@3wheeler](#):
>
> New regs for 2012 are just more evidence of EPA “feel good” policy with no impact other than to make our dollars worth less. The fact that global warming has ceased for the past sixteen years even without global cooperation is evidence that enforcing laws already in place and not pouring gasoline in the water supply will suffice.
Also, could you provide a cite for why you believe
> [@](#):
>
> global warming has ceased for the past sixteen years
This subject has been thoroughly debated on the boards; feel free to do a search of the SDMB just to get an idea of just how much this has been argued.
Also, why do lawn mowers get your dander up? They throw out a lot of nasty emissions; conventional two-cycle internal combustion engines are notorious for that.
Per this link:
> [@](#):
>
> The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says one gas-powered lawn mower releases as many pollutants as eight new cars driving 55 miles per hour, for the same amount of time. So when you mow the lawn you’re adding to about five percent of the pollution in the air. EPA officials say that’s big, especially for people with medical conditions as the summer days get hotter.
I remember living briefly in Los Angeles in the early 80s. Stage I alerts most of the days I was there. It Mad-Max awful. Brown haze, burning eyes, sore throat; I never saw the San Gabriel Mountains to the north except when it rained one day. There was a hard push to clean the air with the usual squawking by industries and automotive manufacturers that they would be “put out of business”.
Today, Stage 1’s are pretty rare, and presuming the marine layer has burned away for the day, you can see the San Gabriel mountains to the north. Last I heard, the annual GDP for the Los Angeles metropolitan area was north of $800 Billion dollars.