If she's truly concerned why doesn't SHE do the mowing, get a great figure and live longer?

Nid, Parksville, Canada

small twigs jam push mowers... what size is the grassy area it will take much longer to mow than using powered.

Tim, Berlin,

Sell your house, give all your money away, become homeless and then you won't have to worry about mowing your lawn.

alexa, Doncaster, uk

Would be interested to see the carbon life-cycle for jettisoning existing powered mower in favour of push-mower; as opposed to using the one that you already own. Consumption starts at the point of manufacturing (as earlier), not just the point of use!

Fliss, Leeds, UK

Iain in Manchester, I've a feeling her husband won't want a goat. I think he's already got one.

albert, Oxford,

Mow the lawn yourself with a push mower.

Bondy, dartmouth, uk

As other pointed out, it takes considerable energy to manufacture a push mower.

But, if it is that important to you, I bet you already have a sissors in the home, grab the sissor and staart cutting.

Or buy a goat and let him at it, then you have supper when he is done.

Darrekk, New Berlin, USA

I have used a push mower for years. It does not give you a golf course like lawn but it is good exercise, has few parts to break down, is quiet, and is inexpensive to purchase and essentially free to use.

Bill Anderson, York, USA

Point out that the exertion will give him a heart attack and he will die. Then he won't have to put up with you anymore.

Rich, Marysville, U.S.A

Do not cut the grass, dig up the garden front and rear and grow your own veg, stop using the car for the school run,shopping and get on the bus or Walk.
That would cure you and him from being over weight suburban users and losers into active green people who set the pace and get fit.

SimonA, Bramhall, England

Wear a bikini and do the lawn yourself. I will give him about 30 seconds before he says, "honey, can I help you"? Ah, reverse psychology.

mike kvenich, toronto, canada

Do it yourself and stop expecting your husband to do it!

Nik, Preston, England

Dangle a can of beer on the handle? - Only to be opened on completion of mowed lawn?

suzi, Maroubra, NSW, Australia

It was perfectly practicable to mow lawns for centuries before the invention of power-driven mowing machines. And we're talking about palaces the size of Hampton Court here - not suburban front gardens.

Edmund Burke, Kingston upon Thames, England

Put sugar in the fuel tank of the motor mower.

Alex, Canberra, Australia

A new hand mower has to be manufactured, so is not free of energy consumption. Buy a second hand one, and you can fully assuage your middle class guilt.

Sedgwick Morrison, London, UK

why mow at all?

Tom Taylor-Duxbury, Ludlow, UK

Ummm.... Get a push mower and mow it yourself! :). Seriously, I am a woman, I have a push mower, I mow my own lawn. I have to exercise anyway, so why not? Sometimes my husband mows instead and he uses a loud gas-powered mower. I'm not going to argue with him, he makes his own decisions.

Kristen, Allentown, USA

Nice one Barrie, you beat me to it.

Dave Madley, Alicante, Spain

Make an exchange. you can fetch water from the well for all household useage. Household jobs like sweeping and washing can be done manually as well, by you, of course. You offer him that in exchange and he'll jump at the proposition, no sweat.
I'll make a book and take bets. 100 to 1, woman loses

BarrieO"Leary, Brisbane, Australia

I've used electric push mowers for some 35 years in northern New York State (think small hamlet of 1,000 people). Instant start. No smell. Yes, the totally manual reel mowers make for even more exercise. I used a cordless Black & Decker mower for 3 years, but the battery life suffers.

Bruce, Adirondack, USA

Beat him repeatedly with a bunch of organic celery until he agrees to bend to your will.

des rigby, manchester, england

Get your butt out there and do it yourself, sugarcube. Problem solved; for all of us.

therockofages, Tampa, USA

I am 74 years old and have never had a power mower. The push reel mowers cut cleaner and are more gentle for the grass. Guess I should in all fairness state that I am the least mechanical of all men.

ROBERT, MARYSVILLE, USA

Anna - have you ever tried pushing one of these monstrosities around a garden? Awful ! Suggest you give it a whirl first before pushing it as an alternative.

Turn off the Aga, water heating, stand-by's & increase your freezer temperature. Forget lo-energy lights though, they are just awful.

Una Lowrey, Rivelsworth, UK

if he uses an electric mower, doesn't he have more time to devote to you? i thought that was the idea of labour-saving appliances. i mean, how would you feel if he asked you to throw out the dishwasher and washing machine and do the dishes and washing by hand? distinctly unimpressed, i'd bet.

Marco, KrakOw, Poland

Allow your husband to buy a 180+ mph motorcycle as a reward for using a push mower.

Keith, WELSHPOOL, UK

Have you ever pushed one? Widowmakers we called them back in the 1950s. Every Easter, tubby men dropped like flies while pushung them. Have a heart!

BLW

Brian Lovett-White, Hastings,

You better hope Jeremy Clarkson isnt reading this, we'll be hearing what he thinks :)
Lets put it this way, burn a bit more fuel and make life easier, or put your husband at risk of Cardiac arrest on a hot day, pushing what appears to be a lead weight around a jungle.

Duncan, Edinburgh,

A true Eco Warrior would let the grass grow into a wildflower meadow. Stop your silly pretence about how to 'Greenup' your middle class lifestyle. If you truely want to make a difference start banging-on about the inefficiency of your materialism.

John, Chester, UK

Offer to mow it yourself while he puts his feet up. As long as your not completely incompitant at mowing, it's a swap he'll take. You got to feel your righteousness and he get's a break. Win win.

Richard, Middlesbrough, UK

What about electric mulching lawnmowers, that deposit finely cut grass back onto the lawn, where it sinks to the soil and removes the need for fertilizer...

It also does away with having to empty a grass box and burying compost - where it is not needed.

Ian, Freiburg,

One lawn mower does minimal damage... But how many lawnmowers are there? Some of the comment here are... Ignorant and rude.

I personally prefer push mowers as light, no cable and noise... or the electric mulching one to deposit nutrients where they are needed...

Ian, Freiburg,

Buy him a goat - it's greener than a push mower and you can spend the time saved to think up more ingenious ways of obliterating your husband's hard earned free time.

Wives can be greener too and throw out your hoover and resort to hanging your carpets once a week and beating them. Fair's fair.

iain, Manchester, UK

Gas Lawn mowers unfortunately pollute our air much more than we think. I use a Neuton Battery Powered mower and am very pleased with it. No cords and no gas to ever buy again and it's very quiet and yet gets the job done well. You can check out their site:
http://www.neutonpower.com/

John Arnold, Las Vegas, USA

Since you're the one that considers it important, buy the push-mower and mow the grass yourself.

If you think that would take too much effort, please note that that's what your husband thinks, too. Rejoice - it's good that married couples have values in common.

David, San Marcos, Texas

David, San Marcos, Texas

How much fuel will be used to manufacture your hand push mower? Would the fuel run the mower for the rest of its enviromental life?

tony, romsey , uk

How many who are so concerned about the planet keep pets whose eco footprint is greater that a Humvee doing 20,000 miles per annum as an average size dog's eco footprint is?
Forget lawn mowers they really don't matter..

David Cage, Highworth, UK

I agree with Rod. But I'd go further to say Environmentalism is Communism by Stealth and fairy story to get more tax from the population. Constantly our freedom is being eroded, restrictions are placed on us in the name of saving the planet.

Dave Wilson, Glasgow,

Im a Grounds Maintainance worker for a Housing Association,and use a mower pretty much all day long most of the year.A Push mower is in my mind, quicker,and more manouverable to get into those tight corners,and edges.The damage exhaust fumes cause ,against the environment goes without saying....

Brian Dennis, Orpington ,Kent, .U.K.

If you are so interested in saving the planet, buy a hand mower and do it yourself! On second thoughts, I am going to suggest to the other five households in my street that we all buy a hand mower, and we can say 'we saved the planet' You are a mug!

robin biles, gainsborough, lincs

Don't bother. His power mower is as likely to affect climate as much as a teaspoon of water taken from the Thames will prevent world flooding. Oh what government scaremongering has done in brainwashing the unknowing!!!

Rod Eaton, Melksham, UK

Typical woman, expect the man to do everything. No sign of sex equality here! Try walking to work or the shops for once and the fuel saved will power the mower for the season!

John, Ayr, UK

Easy,just tell him that regular use of a manual mower will give him a six pack that even David Beckham would envy.In other words appeal to his vanity.

Rita Cocking, Plymouth, England

How can i get my wife to quit using makeup and mow the lawn with a pair of hand clipers?

David Beach, Boise, USA

I'm only small but find it perfectly easy to use a manual lawnmower. I deliberately leave long edges for bugs to live in. Earth is suffering enough, we don't need to scour our gardens with electric and petrol tools. Why not just leave areas wild?

smith, reading,

Lady, get out here and push it yourself.
You could always mow topless which should get him out ino the garden.
Give it a go

Derek, Perth, Australia

do it yourself

if it is that easy to do

knight, aberdeen, uk

Wives are Luddites. They hate to see their main man kicking back a little. Not only do they want to keep him busy, frequently on time-wasting, unnecessary chores, but now prefer him to work inefficiently. Illustrates the folly of allowing someone to supervise a task they can't do themselves.

Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Japan