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Comment by hueving | Hacker News Reader

Is mowing your lawn cruel?

You know the smell of freshly cut grass in summer? I really like that smell, it triggers some intense memories. Then I read that the smell is away for the plant to signal distress. Now the smell triggers the memories and then a wave of gilt.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140922145805.h...

In the same way that there's a vast moral gap between causing a creature to panic and causing a kernel to panic, I feel like the word "distress" is acting more evocatively than is necessarily intended here. (But I'm no botanist!)

Without natural predators like wolves, bears, or bobcats, the deer population in certain areas of the United States has exploded(1). This negatively impacts overall biodiversity(2). I doubt deer like being eaten, but that's the process of life, and its vital to maintain the existing biodiversity we enjoy today.

So why would you feel guilt for the cycle of nature? Without deer, buffalo, or other herbivores in suburbia or urban environments, there has to be something to check plant growth.

(1)https://blog.nature.org/science/2013/08/22/too-many-deer/ (2)https://sciencing.com/purpose-deer-ecosystem-8659608.html

Really? What about when you purchase a bouquet of flowers? You’re essentially prizing the most asthetically pleasing plant sexual organs and giving them to your loved ones.

Equating plant behavior/parts with their animal equivalent would mean you live in a constant state of guilt and horror.

I don't mow anything with a face.

it's not the same. even if you are similarly "conditioning growth" in both cases, you don't care the same about both things. with lawn, I'd say most people are mowing to "prevent something ugly" more than to "make something beautiful". with the bonsai you are actually trying to make something beautiful. in a way, you are not just "conditioning", you are "designing". it's less about something practical and more about personal preference, more opinionated. and it doesn't happen only with plants. some people like myself are a bit reluctant to share certain things with others, wary that it might change the way they see the world. I wouldn't say growing bonsai is cruel, but I kinda feel it cruel, and I'd definitely avoid doing it.

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