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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <london@sunsite.unc.edu>
  • To: permaculture@listserv.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Grass Gas (fwd)
  • Date: Sat, 25 Apr 1998 22:22:19 -0400 (EDT)


http://sunSITE.unc.edu/london InterGarden
london@sunSITE.unc.edu llondon@bellsouth.net

Maybe mowing lawns, pastures and hay crops the traditional way
with sharp scythes (resharpened in the field as needed) would
put more people to work, reconstitute said work force, provide
more focus on natural agricultural methods and reduce the
pollution described below.
LL
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 8:17 -0600
From: "Kephart, Kevin PltSc." <KEPHARTK@mg.sdstate.edu>
To: forage-mg@web.CSS.ORST.EDU
Subject: Grass Gas
-
Colleagues:
I found this information on the Discovery Channel web site last night.
Kevin
-
Study: Grass is
Environmentally Unfriendly

Lawns and grasslands release vast quantities of
pollutants into the air, according to one of the first
studies of gaseous emissions from grass and clover.

Firing up the mower and cutting the grass will just
make things worse.

Scientists from Australia's CSIRO Research Institute
and Monash University have found that emissions of
chemicals increase approximately 100-fold after
grass is cut, and take hours to reduce to their original
levels.

Cattle grazing or trampling will have a similar effect
to mowing, increasing emission rates from grass.

Scientists believe that some of the additional gases
released by cut grass are natural antibiotics, which
act to disinfect the wound site. Gases released by
grass include the volatile organic compounds
methanol, ethanol, propanone and butanone,
according to CSIRO.

This study has shown that grasslands around the
world may be one of the biggest sources of the
gases methanol, and perhaps ethanol, in the
atmosphere.

"It's not just cars and industry, or lawnmowers
themselves, that cause air pollution," says Ian
Galbally, from the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric
Research.

"Plants release highly reactive hydrocarbons that can
add significantly to photochemical smog problems,"
Galbally says.

To measure emissions of these air pollutants from
grass, scientists from Monash and CSIRO set up a
transparent chamber in a grass paddock in
Gippsland, south-eastern Victoria. Over two years,
the scientists collected and analyzed gases released
by the grass to learn how emissions are affected by
variations in temperature and light intensity, and by
drought.

Although grasslands and pastures cover a quarter of
the Earth's land surface, this study is one of the first
of emissions from grass and clover. "Emissions from
grass are at their greatest in warm weather and at
around midday, when sunlight is most intense," says
Galbally. "No gases are released at night."

Wayne Kirstine from the Gippsland campus of
Monash University conducted the research with
Galbally.

Kevin D. Kephart
Associate Professor of Plant Science
Plant Science Department
South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD 57007

email: kkephart@abs.sdstate.edu
Tel: (605) 688-4751
FAX: (605) 688-4452



  • Grass Gas (fwd), Lawrence F. London, Jr., 04/25/1998

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