Do Your Lungs Like Leaf Blowers?

In this age of Covid-19, we are all looking for ways to improve our chances of avoiding the virus, or at least minimizing it's risks.  The lungs are particularly vulnerable so let's give them a little extra love by cleaning up the environment in our own front yards.  First step, eradication of leaf blower use in our neighborhoods.  

Want to make a difference right now?  

Discontinue your own leaf-blowing activity.  Instead, have your gardener rake and then compost the leaves on your property or that of a willing neighbor.  And for God's sake, share this with your neighbors!



According to estimates by the U.S. Environmental Protection, Agency, emissions of smog producing substances from mowers, blowers and other small off-road engines in 2016 were 81 percent as high as the amount from standard sedans. In the air pollution-plagued Los Angeles area, the small off-road engines category is projected to overtake cars as a contributor to smog this year.  

It goes without saying (but must be said anyway), that leaf blowers pose the greatest threat to the health and hearing of the untold numbers of landscape workers who use them on a daily basis, in most cases without adequate protective equipment, for intervals that far exceed OSHA guidelines. Unfortunately, the workers themselves tend to exaggerate the benefits and deny the risks of blowing leaves with machines, which they strongly favor over rakes, for reasons that probably have more to do with symbolism than practicality.

Below are some of the reasons to discontinue the use of blowers in case you are short on facts..  

One last reminder:  The workers who are going to be making the shift from blowers to rakes should be compensated for additional work hours if that is the case.  Most homes need leaves collected only during fall, leaving your gardener free time to plant and tend vegetables or trees or create and maintain a compost heap.

"Fun" Facts

• 1.2 billion gallons of gas are burned in lawn and garden equipment in the United States annually.

• Toxic gas & oil, carcinogenic emissions, noxious exhaust, and unsafe noise levels make gas-powered lawn care a very hazardous job — particularly for unprotected lawn crews working full-time at the source of emissions and noise. Workers may have few options and little agency.

• Ground level ozone (formed by VOCs and NOx in the presence of sunlight) and fine particulate matter cause and contribute to early death, stroke, heart attack, congestive heart failure, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancer.

• The ongoing fueling and maintenance necessary with gas lawn machines results in huge amounts of extra waste in our landfills.

• Harsh chemical solvents are used to degrease and clean carburetors, spark plugs, fuel and air filters, and decks of gas-powered machines. These elements end up evaporating into the air, poured into the soil, or washed down a drain.
• Gas emissions degrades air, soil & water. It affects neighborhood quality of life and contributes to climate change

Still not convinced?

• Noise pollution poses critical physical and psychological health effects including tinnitus & hearing loss, stress, hypertension, headaches, and productivity loss.

Now that many of you are working from home, you may be more aware of the frequency with which these menaces are operated.  Let's use this break from business as usual to fix some of our long-standing health and environmental issues. 
This one is pretty simple. 

Thanks for listening.