Guest Post by Jennifer Wheelock: No Blow

Remember when you were a kid, and you helped your dad rake the backyard leaves? Then you got a running start and leapt exaltedly into the middle of the pile. messing it up just enough that you felt rebellious but not so much that the pile couldn’t be restored without much effort. No more. If a kid does that today, she risks getting blown to the naked treetops.

I appeal to you, people with common sense--and eardrums and lungs--to join my new activist group, No Blow Atlanta. The group’s mission, as defined by me, is the following: to get our local government to ban the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. It can be done. Some forward-thinking folks in other parts of the country have done it. (At least 20 cities in California have passed such legislation.)

The leaf blower was invented in the 1950’s, the same decade we have to thank for the microwave, instant iced-tea, and Mr. Potato Head. It was banned in some cities shortly after its introduction in the U.S. and continues to be the source of debate and new legislation across the country. I submit that Atlantans join in.

Practical reasons for banning gas-powered leaf blowers in densely to moderately-densely populated areas abound.

1. Air pollution: One gas-powered leaf blower can emit as much pollution in a year’s time as 80 cars.
2. Noise pollution: I SAID NOISE POLLUTION. Perhaps you couldn’t hear me due to the ear damage you’ve suffered from your neighbor’s blower. 60 decibels is considered an acceptable noise level in most residential areas. Gas-powered leaf blowers generate about 75 dB.
3. Fuel consumption: They waste a valuable natural resource.
4. Obesity: While no direct link can be made between America’s obesity epidemic and leaf blowers, it surely could not hurt us to burn a few calories by raking.

In addition to these reasons—which speak to the environmental and health impact of blowers--there’s the absurdity of it all.

Take the owner of a small business on my block. This morning I watched out my kitchen window, after my newspaper reading was interrupted by the loud, gnawing buzz of the blower, as the bar owner used a leaf blower to push cigarette butts, dirt, and other debris from the sidewalk in front of his business out into the middle of the street, where it all immediately began to be blown around and into people’s faces by the wind and passing cars.

Another case in point: the lawn maintenance crew at an apartment complex not far from where I live used two blowers to send the leaves from “their” property onto the lawn of a neighboring property. The very next day, I kid you not, I saw a man at that neighboring property blowing the leaves right back across the property line.

Another example: I was jogging by a gas station and there was a man blowing the debris—including trash--from the gas station lot onto the sidewalk, where I was running. I was yelling for him to stop so I could pass but he couldn’t hear me over the blower and he didn’t see me so I ended up with a mouth and eyes full of dust and dirt.

And earlier this week, I watched a man blow all the leaves from his yard across the street into the community park where I walk my dog. The next morning the park clean-up crew was there—blowers on their backs—blowing it all back into the street.

Let ‘s summarize all that is negative about the use of leaf blowers: They create both air and noise pollution. They use precious fuel. They take one person’s problem (leaves, usually, but often trash as well) and make them someone else’s problem. They keep us from raking and bagging, also known as exercise. All of this and, in the end, the leaves are still on the ground. The absurdity is mind-boggling.

Now, let’s look at everything negative connected with raking: it’s hard work. What a concept!
Can’t handle the thought of physical labor? Don’t have time? Pay a yard person and tell him or her no blowers allowed. Or let the leaves lie where they are! They protect your lawn through the harsh winter and eventually become mulch, which you’d buy in the spring anyway.

I talked to a number of people who share my disdain—even disgust—for the gas-powered leaf blower. I heard many stories of ruined walks, interrupted sleep, coughing, dirt-filled eyes. I heard of nostalgia for the good old rake and a little Fall exercise. And I heard about the fuel crisis that seems to make not using a gas-powered blower when there are alternatives a no-brainer.

Call your local council person. Write the mayor. Appeal to your blowhard neighbors. Talk to the manager of your apartment or condominium complex or the president of your neighborhood association. And for God’s sake, rake.

Visit my website, www.noblowatlanta.com, for more information and for an easy way to email your city council person regarding this issue. It won’t take a lot of your time to make a difference.