We got this letter from a reader and we thought we’d share.
He wants to ban leaf-blowers in Bend.
What do you think?
I would like to propose a Leaf-Blower BAN here in Bend for the following reasons:
1. Two-cylinder engines of leaf-blowers are not regulated by any Federal or State agency and release 100% of their tailgate emissions directly into the environment.
2. A leaf-blower running for one hour emits as many hydrocarbons and other pollutants as a car driven at 55 mph for 110 miles.
3. Their decibel levels that far exceed acceptable limits.
4. The incessant, high-pitched, pulsing whine of a leaf-blower is enough to raise peoples stress levels to the brink of insanity.
5. They idea that leaf-blowers save time is a falsity, since it implies that the time stolen from the rest of us is worthless and they don’t remove anything, they simply displace it into less ideal areas such as the air we breath (see below)
6. Using leaf-blowers is irrational. They do nothing more than displace otherwise generally harmless debris/particulate into other parts of the yard/street/driveway, etc, and thrust them into the air where they become harmful, dirty the sides of homes & cars and find their way into homes and businesses increasing asthmatic reaction and thus reducing indoor air quality levels. Even passerby’s are greatly inconvenienced by the noise and air borne particulate that finds it’s way into their eyes and lungs. It’s ridiculous that folks should have to close all of the windows on their homes daily during the “leaf-blower” season to prevent contaminated by this airborne insanity.
7. And I ask this, “What exactly is the benefit of blowing particulate from one area, where it is harmless contained, and into the street, air, the sides of homes, etc? It is not being removed, just displaced to a less favorable area. How does this make even a grain of sense?
8. Additionally, subjecting natural things to blasts of hot, dry, hurricane-force winds (up to 180 mph) opens pathways for pests and disease, while at the same time aiding and abetting the pathogens by distributing them over the widest possible area promoting the spread of invasives, etc.
9. How does stripping off topsoil, desiccating roots, and killing vital soil-dwelling organisms, propelling into the air clouds of dirt, dust and dangerous contaminants including: volatile compounds, mold and fungal spores, weed seeds, insect eggs, pollen, molecules of the myriads of toxic chemicals people spray and sprinkle on their gardens, trees, and lawns, not to mention bird and rodent feces, make any rational sense at all?
- Gasoline-driven leaf-blowers have been banned in scores of California counties by logical individuals, including Los Angeles and hundreds of municipalities across the U.S. and Canada, and none of the horrors that were predicted by landscapers – untidy lawns, escalating costs, declining property values – has ever come to pass.
- The proliferation of leaf-blower use has far more to do with marketing than actual realized benefits. When all the REAL costs are factored in, their alleged benefits don’t even BEGIN to justify their penalties, risks and reduction in quality of life to all whom are subjected to them.
Cheap to produce, priced to sell, and aggressively marketed, the real function of leafblowers is to rake in money for the huge corporations that manufacture them with complete disregard to the environment and the sanity of all within ear and breath shot.
Credits given for the original post to: Winifred Rosen, Guest Commentator, DrWeil.com News
To review the entire article please visit: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/ART02059
This article appears in Oct 25-31, 2012.
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The writer of this article should check all his facts before he writes a hate letter.There are not any two cylinder backpack style leafblowers on the market.Most commercial blowers are now four stroke or the remaining two stroke machines are very clean burning compared to machines that were produced just five years ago.I would suggest he wander down to a local outdoor power equipment store,Such as Jerrys Outdoor or Floyd Boyd and ask about the emissions that the new equipment produce.The noise levels has also been reduced with the use of four stroke engines.
For the sake of clarity, you both should have said two-cycle or two-stroke, NOT two-cylinder. Two CYLINDER means something entirely different and not really relevant to the discussion.
I have no specific knowledge about this, but i find it hard to believe that a leaf blower, however crudely made, can pollute more in one hour than a car can in two. The leaf blower would probably burn about a pint of gasoline in that time, the car (at 25 mpg) would burn 4.4 gallons (35.2 pints). Do cars really pollute 1/35th as much as a leaf blower on a per-gallon basis?
I hear you on many of the other issues though.
In regards to Troy I did say two stroke.I also said that two cylinder blowers are not available as backpack style blowers.As a trailer mounted they are used more for vacuuming the leaves into a shredder and then blowing the shredded leaves into a truck or similar to be hauled away.They do use two cylinder motors for this purpose.If anyone wants to check out actual emission and noise levels go to http://www.stihlusa.com and all info on stihl machines is available.
Hi Gregory, I may (or may not) stand corrected on the cleaner burning, 2 vs 4 stroke machines. What I do know for fact, is that I’ve come across not a single leaf blower that has not been intensely annoying due to it’s excessive noise levels and pulsing throttle usage, regardless of what the ratings on paper are. Also, all of the other facts remain. These leaf blowers are almost always entirely anti-productive due to the points mentioned in the article. They could be made 0 emissions, and 0 decibels, but the fact would still remain, they are an annoyance, ruin air quality and in my opinion, have no place in out town… or any town.
At Troy: Just some food for thought. Have you ever had a newer SUV drive by and not even been able to detect the exhaust emissions from it? At the same time, have you ever walked past a lawnmower, grass-trimmer or leaf blower and had to hold your breath? There are massive differences in controlled vs uncontrolled emissions in gas burning appliances. There are many articles online for you to review, just google search “emissions leaf-blower vs vehicle” or similar. That being said, as Gregory stated, these may have been improved in recent years, and this is a step in the right direction, but that does not change the wasteful and uselessness of the leaf blower in general.
Note: I’m not suggesting that the “extraction” type of blowers that are used to “suck-up” contaminants and push them through HEPA filtration are not useful at times, I’m specifically referring to the standard, most often mindlessly used backpack leaf blower.
First World Problem!