Lawn mowers are often noisy and smelly. That harbors conflicts. A few years ago in Marktredwitz in Upper Franconia, a drunken pensioner attacked his neighbor with a knife because he was probably mowing in a disruptive manner. The interlude in the countryside ended with a scramble in which the attacker fell over a hedge. In Kansas City, a man is said to have even shot his neighbor because he had been complaining about his mowing activities for years. In both cases it can be assumed that man was the bigger problem than the machine.
In any case, lawnmowers are nerve-wracking, eat up energy and produce waste. But how else could the growing problem of rampant green spaces be mastered? Clever minds came up with a solution that was as innovative as it was sustainable: the sheep. Sheep can also cut the grass on steep slopes and hard-to-reach places with little noise and CO₂. Herds have long been grazing under solar panels, between vines, on traffic islands. And recently also in Pompeii.
A third of the city buried by the lava of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 is still buried, 150 sheep are now grazing there and prevent the areas from overgrowing uncontrollably. “Sometimes the greatest innovation is going back to our roots,” said Archaeological Park director Gabriel Breeding-Bar. the magazine ancient world.
At the same time, the animals fertilize the soil, tread it down and thus prevent erosion and transport plant seeds on their fur, which contributes to biodiversity. And grazing herds of sheep are said to even reduce stress – compared to mechanical lawnmowers, found researchers at the University of California – at least that was true of the students on campus. The result may also apply to excited neighbors.
Read previous episodes of the column here. You can find more good news here.