The stereotypical American lawn is a fairly new thing, basically "created" by Scott and the rest of the fertilizer industry in the 60s and 70s. Prior to this, lawns were mixed plants, and not expected to be nearly 100% grass. They were generally more drought tolerant and needed less maintenance (both water, fertilizer, and mowing).
Electric mowers (battery) are sufficiently good today that we really should phase out the sale of gas mowers. At least for "normal" sized lawns. Mechanical push mowers are also an option for small enough lawns.
And aside from inertia, there's no good reason that most yards need to be predominantly grass lawn. I've found that, at least for my small yard, hardscape, shrubs, and other plants are lower maintenance (twice annual pruning, monthly weeding during the grow season). I only water when I add/replace plants or particularly hot/dry weeks. And I've cut out all fertilizer. I've cut the amount of grass by about half and will likely cut it by another half at the end of this season. All my lawn tools are now battery powered as well.
I have an electric push mower for our home - we have probably 1500 sqft of grass currently (including the strip in front of our house that might technically be owned by the city) a single charge can mow everything if the grass isn't too long/wet, but there is usually a mow or two after spring rains that has to be done in two parts.
I also have a "cabin" (hopefully future farm) property that was horse pasture a decade ago. My splurge toy last year was an electric riding mower - ours is greenworks - and it is really a joy. Can mow 1-2 acres on a single charge (depending on grass height/dampness). It's so fun my wife and I have actually had an argument about who 'gets' to mow next.
Perhaps my favorite thing about electric mowers is they literally start with a button. Pull starting sucks, especially when it isn't working.
The problem is that there are political parties that make a political platform out of green lawns and BBQs all while knowing that they're deluding their voters and sending them off to catastrophe.
Wood and charcoal, yes. But natural gas and propane are clean burning. The difference between them are several orders of magnitude.
For stoves, gas stoves are being banned for new construction because they don't burn as cleanly as once thought [1].
For BBQs the heat source used doesn't matter (with the exception that coal units should never ever be used indoors), they all emit tons of toxic and highly odorious particles from all the oil and fats decomposing.
[1] https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/have-a-gas-stove-how-to-...
> The two-stroke leaf blower was worse still, generating 23 times the CO and nearly 300 times more NMHC than the crew cab pickup. Let's put that in perspective. To equal the hydrocarbon emissions of about a half-hour of yard work with this two-stroke leaf blower, you'd have to drive a [Ford F150] Raptor for 3,887 miles
https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-...
2-stroke are awful because they do not have oil sumps - the oil is mixed into the fuel and drawn into the piston through the crank case where some of the oil sticks to the moving parts to lubricate them. The rest is burnt and emitted as that awful blue smoke.
They're kinda clever as they can operate in any orientation thanks to the lack of the oil sump which makes them ideal for portable power tools which have to operate at a variety of angles. They also have no valves so are less complex and easier to maintain and have a pretty good power to weight ratio. They are valued in developing nations because of this so they are hard to get rid of.
New as in the last 40-50 years? Can you please give me examples of recent 2 stroke mowers and generators available in the USA? I haven't seen a 2 stroke generator or lawnmower in all my years and I used portable generators a bunch at my old job (Coleman, Generac, Honda, etc). However Ive seen plenty of small 2 stroke motors on hand held lawn and garden tools, chain saws, boat engines and dirt bikes.
The only 2-stroke generator I can think of are those really small antique 500W generators that I think Coleman made in the 1960's or 70's?
The most important thing is: Don't use any kind of 2-stroke gas engine powered appliances. Leaf blowers, bush trimmers, mowers, cheap electricity generators... they aren't covered by usual emission regulations and thus have barely any exhaust filtering, leading to emission of insane amounts of all kinds of toxins. On top of that they're all very bad for the local ecosystem - mowed grass tends to dry out faster, leaf blowing (or removal in general) kills safe spaces for small lifeforms.
The next major pollutant are all sorts of furnaces and cooking appliances. Be it a wood pellet, gas or oil heating system, a gas stove, or the once-every-weekend BBQ... it all shows up on air quality sensors. Get a heat pump for heating (there are bi-directional air conditioners that can heat in the winter and cool in the summer), take care to not overheat oils in pans (decomposing oils are quite toxic!), and for heavens sake cut back on the BBQs if you value your lungs and those of your neighbours.
The last part is to quit smoking.