Why I Hate Leaf Blowers
In the comments to my post about the victory for the community in causing a homeowner to stop running his sprinklers every single day, rain or shine, over a pretty good swath of cement, the issue of leaf-blower nuisance also came up. Sybil asked a 
reasonable question:
Why so anti leaf blower? Are they louder than the lawn mower?
Well, Sybil, they may actually be louder than lawnmowers,
and that would be annoying enough. In addition, though, all lawn equipment causes a surprising amount of air pollution. The EPA (and, remember, this is the Bush Administration EPA that denied global warming for years) warns that lawn equipment in general produces particulate matter pollution and ground-level ozone. Gas-powered lawn equipment, including leaf blowers, typically has poorly-tuned engines, dirty filters, and other problems that a mechanic would understand but I don’t.
And perhaps most importantly, unlike gas-powered lawn motors, gas-powered leaf blowers are fairly useless. Mostly the hired landscape people I see use them to blow grass around; they blow grass onto the street, they blow it into other yards, but rarely (I can’t think of once) do you see them actually bag any of that grass. As long as there is wind on this planet, all that grass, and those leaves, just blow right back into someone else’s yard (or the yard of origin), awaiting their turn to be blown away again.
And that, Sybil, is why I hate leaf blowers.
But how will all the lawn people blow all of the yard debris into other peoples yards?
Thats exactly what they do, and it makes me mad.
I get a big kick out of watching my neighbors’ blow & go crews. One week they will be adding compost and mulch to the flowerbeds. The second week the very same crew will return to blow the heck out of those very same beds. Then the following week, they come back to plant all the colorful seasonal flowers, only to return the next week to blow out the new plants, rootballs and all. And so on and so on and so on. There’s a lot more money getting blown out of those beds than anything else. My neighbors have this wretched need to control nature, but the joke is on them. Bless their hearts.
so are you guys suggesting we go back to push lowers and rakes? Or xeriscape?
that is push mowers and rakes.
Charles, do you mow your own grass and rake your leaves? Just wondering.
Since I do my own gardening and lawn maintenance, I do have something to say about this. Blowers shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the flower beds, except during a heavy fall leaf drop. And then the blowers should be at there lowest speed and gently blow them out. Since I have a cottage garden and the plants are grouped closely together, I hand cull out the majority of debris along with the acorns and pecans. UNFORTUNATELY most folks think that flower bed soil needs to scrubbed clean, which is just plain wrong. I purposely leave a layer of leaves which act as a natural mulch and eventually become a nutritious compost. When it comes to lawns, choose the weapon that best suits you. I use the rake because, I enjoy the labor, have better control, and dethatch my lawn all at the same time. And there is the added benefit of getting to know my neighbors while I’m out there working.
Nope, UPMom, I don’t. As I said when I started my diatribe about the excessive water use, I could absolutely be an example of the “glass houses syndrome.”
I and my family have taken certain steps to reduce our “carbon footprint,” like driving a hybrid car, replacing bulbs with compact flourescents, recycling, etc., none of which really required any sacrifice. There is no doubt, however, that I could a lot more, and I’ll keep trying.
then let’s quit criticizing this and move on.
I agree with Charles. Environmental concerns aside, I just simply consider leaf blowers to be a noisy nuisance, making it hard to enjoy reading outdoors when there is a lawn crew every day of the week nearby.
As you wish, maam. I certainly see no reason to contemplate why we might want to change our behaviors. Even if the sky in Dallas is a light shade of brown in the summer and even Republicans now recognize the threat of global warming caused by carbon emissions.
Carry on!
I only mean if you aren’t going to walk the walk (using push mowers and rakes) then you can’t complain. Kind of like don’t complain about the president if you don’t vote.
Good site, Charles, although its being in Sacramento may further James’s claim that PC People has a left-wing blog.
Back when someone in the family or a teenaged neighbor mowed the lawns, the noise was at worst once a week and one device (mower or maybe blower) at a time. Now twice a week a crew works next door with multiple devices, and too often a different crew does the same simultaneously across the street. All that noise reverberates between the enormous houses that replaced the shorter, smaller houses, making it louder and even bringing lawn crew noise from further away. So it has become a problem.
Gotta jump on the anti-blower bandwagon. For me, it’s the extremely high-pitched whining frequency of the things that makes them profoundly more annoying than a mower. You can hear them from a block away, you can year them through the walls of your house, etc. If I happen to be at home on a weekday, it’s not unusual to hear that whine all day long. Really destroys the effect of the otherwise beautiful neighborhood they’re supposedly maintaining. That ear-piercing noise, combined with the fact that all they do is blow stuff from one yard to another and back again, ad infinitum, is why I hate them. I’m honestly surprised a place like UP hasn’t ordinanced them out of existence by now.
Charles & many others are taking steps to walk the walk. This blog gives us the opportunity to share ideas, and we saw this week how it can make us aware of and accountable for things that we might not have otherwise thought much about. Taking small steps every day to improve the environment can lead to bigger changes.
When people are educated about issues, they are left with the choice to do nothing or to act. When we talk about how bad the blowers are for our environment, we don’t expect everyone to stop using them. But some people might.
On the voting comparison, Charles could spend the next few months rallying support for Obama, then have a freak accident and die before the election. He wouldn’t be able to cast his own vote, but his voice may influence the votes of many others.
btw, I have a neighbor whose kids love to use the push mower. That’s reason enough to buy one.
Thanks for the support, Jen. The “freak accident” thing kind of shook me up a bit, though.
Thanks, Jen, for the support, although the “freak accident” thing kind of shook me up a bit.
Speaking of ideas, has anyone talked to their lawn services about using more green alternatives than grassblowers? How much more would it cost? Would the savings of using less gas offset some of the labor costs?
I’d say that I’d do it myself but with small children, work and other commitments it’s just not going to happen, even if I give up showering and brushing my teeth a la Merritt to support the cause.
Merritt doesn’t shower or brush her teeth? I didn’t know that.
It was in her column. She gave it up for her burgeoning hip-hop dance career.
Haven’t seen it yet. I’ll look.
my responses came across much harsher than I intended. I apologize. I just don’t think people are going to give up the speed and convenience of the gas mower and blower until they have to.
Leans to the left, anon., leans to the left.
But James, Sacramento is the official residence of California’s Republican governor, Arnie Something-or-other. And despite rumors to the contrary, don’t both liberals and conservatives have lungs?
And didn’t McCain actually give a major speech about global warming?
(But I know it isn’t fair for me to post a reply to your comment just before your weekend Internet blackout goes into effect. Sorry).
We asked our lawn service to stop using the leaf blowers and now we enjoy watching the peaceful zen-like activities of sweeping and raking and we don’t have to breathe in the benzene fumes that get blown into the house. Our plants are a lot healthier, too. Our lawn service did not change their price. Next, we’re going to try and convince our neighbors to follow suit. There are entire communities in California that have banned leaf blowers.
Charles,
California is a blue state. Sacramento is an environmental wacko heaven. Arnie is married to a Kennedy, for god’s sakes, and John McCain is running for president. What the heck was that post about? Besides, identity politics (involving a specific person, place or group)doesn’t allow for as meaningful discourse as a discussion of the actual issues or ideas.
You all have inspired me. I am going to ask our lawn service to stop using leaf blowers and see what they say (or do). I’m even considering investing in a push mower (do they still make them) and make my son mow the lawn like in the old days. It would be good exercise and a perfect chore to help him earn his keep.
This morning I drove by a house on Gillon where a yard worker was using a push mower on a side slope. Unfortunately I saw a leaf blower on the sidewalk with his other tools. But, yes, you can still buy push mowers and they are lighter and easier to push than the ones sold decades ago.
I’m impressed that Carol got her lawn crew to stop using blowers for the old price, and that Chickenlittle plans to try the same. Maybe someone can create a slogan (like “Blow It Off” or “This Lawn Is No Blow” — tricky due to the many meanings of “blow”) and start a movement to convince more people to quiet their lawn crews.
Hey, if anyone knows of a lawn service that uses manual mowers and no leaf blowers, I’d be interested.
For low creeping grass like St. Augustine, you would need at least 7 to 8 blades. Unfortunately, most of our hardware stores carry only the 5 to 6 blade mowers which don’t work on our local tough grass. Here’s a link to reel mower models.
http://www.reelmowermodels.com/
Another con with lawn crews is the practice of mulching the leaves with their mowers. That’s ok for once-in-a-blue moon. But after 3 years of heavy leaf fall, this creates a thick spungy layer that harbors mold and fungus and kills the grass. This happened to me, and it’s taken me 2 years to bring it back to good health.