Last week, the first sustainable lawn mowers were introduced in Paris, France. I applaud the decision by Paris City Hall to mow some public sections of the city with naturally-grazing sheep. Parisians have always been revolutionary in their ideas and actions.

Case studies have been conducted for years on the sustainability of sheep and goats in rural settings, but no lawmakers in Western society before now have had the audacity or unwavering self-esteem to withstand the remarks of doubtful ignoramuses and implement sheep effectively into a city’s infrastructure.

The concept is brilliant.

Paris will successfully cut their lawn mowing costs in half by using sheep. This means more money can be allocated to the maintaining of roads, instead of lawn mowers, because they ditched the traditional polluting, labor-intensive lawn mowers.

Sheep lawn mowing commendably promotes a more balanced environment by omitting the use of non renewable fossil fuels in lawn mowers. Less pollution means cleaner, more peaceful air and more of an opportunity for nature and people to flourish in harmony.

The pros just keep adding up: an experiment conducted in a park outside of Paris showed that the sheep manure actually attracted a group of swallows to migrate back to the area because insects fled to the excrement. The ecosystem was returned to its original natural state.

As for the droppings, they quickly crumble with an odorless powder that help facilitate the process of fertilization, so there is no stinky manure sitting in the fields.

The mere existence of sheep or goats in a natural field is sustainable in itself. The animals munch on the grass, digest it, and fertilize the ground with their droppings for more grass to grow. The cycle repeats and there is no expensive fertilizer or gas-powered lawn mower involved in the process.

The only con: potential laughter.

I’m confident that after some time, those who were doubtful will see the value in sustainability and smooth their skeptically wrinkled face into a somewhat accepting nod of approval.

I wouldn’t be opposed to this concept being applied to large commercial acres of grass that are so abundant here in St. Louis. Who knows? Maybe the sheep could attract more business to areas that already get summer foot traffic, such as Old Town St. Charles or the Arch.

Or maybe I am only picturing a far-off dream from reality where we live. After all, this concept is, in the traditional Parisian way, quite revolutionary. God forbid St. Louis would renounce the use of gasoline-powered lawn mowers and take sheep seriously to make a better change for the environment and people in our city.