First we learned that Bayer Health rented 1,450 sheep to graze grass on its Richmond, California campus. Now Google has informed us that they are taking a similar approach to landscaping by renting goats from California Grazing to cut its grass.
The goats supposedly cost the same as traditional lawnmowing, but emit much less carbon and don't spew engine exhaust-- and they provide more comic relief. A herder periodically brings 200 goats onto campus, where they spend a week grazing on grass and fertilizing it with their poop. The goats, which have been spotted by one Google staffer west of the main campus soccer field, are herded by a border collie named Jen.
Information Week suggests that Google should just let the grass on its campus go wild, but perhaps Bayer and Google are sparking a new trend: corporate animal grazing.
Related: Tour the Googleplex
Related: The Fast Company 50 - #2 Google
[Via Google]
Related Stories: | Topics:Innovation, Technology, Ethonomics, google, goats, herding, jen, bayer, health, lawnmower, Google Inc., Nature and the Environment, Wildlife, Mammals, Richmond |
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Recent Comments | 6 Total
May 2, 2009 at 11:31am by John Krech
Google has such a great corporate image. They were bruised a little when The Times Online did a story on the carbon footprint of a Google search. At ePhiphony, we got our beginning by challenging a 95 year old myth that is still in use for most ERP packages in the world so we recently launched a blog dedicated to challenging technology myths - DeMythRTried.
In our first post (http://www.phitch.com/Default.aspx?tabid=98&EntryID=10) - we uncovered the facts from the fiction to show Google is 2% of our online time and Googles data centers are only 0.5%. of the time spent during a Google search. In other words, there are muc more effective options. That is what ePhiphony is all about - helping small business making smarter decisions.
May 4, 2009 at 11:36am by Subraya Mallya
This reminded me so much of our days growing up in a village in India. We used this model of lawnmowing back in 70s out of compulsion and lack of technology.
Subraya Mallya
http://www.prudentcloud.com/goinggreen/going-green-naturally-03052009/
May 4, 2009 at 4:54pm by Ariel Schwartz
@Subraya Interesting how the most low-tech solutions are sometimes the most effective.
May 5, 2009 at 10:45am by Adrienne Burt
For Alix- a new market????
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