Why I Hate Leaf Blowers
I really hate leaf blowers. But since Compete to Conserve is non-partisan, I would be remiss not to provide some objective background information. “A leaf blower is an engine-powered, hand-held maintenance tool used in lieu of a rake or broom to remove leaves and debris from a lawn or garden by blowing them away.” A leaf blower is basically a high-speed fan which creates an air current up to 200 miles per hour. The air then pushes the objects in its path (i.e., leaves) in the intended direction.
Leaf blowers generally come in one of two forms: (1) the blower (used simply to blow materials); and (2) the blower/vacuum (as its name suggests, it combines the blower function with a vacuum feature, and sometimes even a mulching feature). Both forms of leaf blowers are designed as hand held units, backpacks or the “walk behind” version (mounted on wheels). The power behind the leaf blower can be electric (corded or rechargeable/battery operated) or gas.
I am not alone in my crusade, and it really is not hard to find information against leaf blowers. In my opinion, the three main arguments are:
Leaf Blowers Are Loud
Some critics of leaf blowers argue that the decibel level of a leaf blower can damage hearing. To others, it is really a matter of what time in the morning the leaf blower is first activated. Have you ever tried to get the attention of a person bearing a leaf blower if he or she was not facing you? Of the 40 million United States citizens suffering from hearing loss, 25% of the cases can be attributed to Noise Induced Hearing Loss (”NIHL”). Even one bad sound experience can lead to NIHL. Typical conversations occur at 60 decibels. Leaf blowers operate at about 115 decibels (the same as a chainsaw or rock concert). The recommended standard for permissible exposure time at that level is less than 30 seconds.
Leaf Blowers Are Toxic to the Air
Leaf blowers generate as much emissions in just one short hour as a brand-new automobile on a 350-mile road trip. Additionally, in urban settings, leaf blowers fail to single out the solitary, fallen leaf, but instead send debris, soil, dust, pollen and/or mold into a newly created swirling vortex of toxic air.
Leaf Blowers Violate Newton’s Third Law of Motion (aka Leaf Blowers Are Stupid)
In trying to promote the idea of global sustainability through conservation on an individual and accessible level, somehow I keep coming back (far too often perhaps) to Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Leaf blowers do little more in an urban setting than transfer dirt and debris from private property onto public or other private property. Newton believed that whenever two objects interact, the force directed on one must equal (but in opposite direction) the force directed at the other. When matched against the monstrous force of a leaf blower, the helpless leaf has no choice but to react, and metaphorically speaking, run to the nearest lawn or street.
Living in an urban setting, I am baffled whenever I see a leaf blower being used to move dirt from one person’s lawn to another lawn, or worse, into the street. This solitary act is the origin, and perhaps only reason, why I really hate leaf blowers. Without disregarding the importance of noise pollution and air quality, I think this most common use of a leaf blower in an urban setting is just plain stupid.
Thankfully, many cities are banning leaf blowers or limiting the hours of use. In Los Angeles, if a neighbor refuses to control a leaf blower on his or her property, residents can report a “blower in progress” by caling 877-275-5273 (make sure to select “1″, however, for non-emergent crimes). More information can be found at www.zapla.org (zero air pollution Los Angeles). ZAPLA’s mission statement is “to encourage compliance with leaf blower bans and restrictions by providing facts, opinions, and access to sources and to resources.” Happy to know these resources exist, clearly I am not alone on this position. And while I am somewhat passionate about my disliking of leaf blowers, I think treehugger.com hates them even more, calling leaf blowers a few years back the “scourge of humanity“.
For more information visit:
www.wisegeek.com/what-are-leaf-blowers.html
www.dangerousdecibels.org/hearingloss.cfm
www.treehugger.com/files/005/09/leaf_blowers_sc.php
September 8th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
American laziness and wastefulness in it’s truest form. I hope that someday everyone will read C2C blogs, they’re so great.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
In today’s models, there are leaf blowers that are quiet, cordless, electric, gas….a different kind of leaf blower to resolve whatever your angst is against them.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Regardless of how effective they are at their job, I don’t understand why leaf blowers have to be used before 8 in the morning. Some of us get the chance to sleep in on certain days and loud gas leaf blowers totally ruin it.
November 20th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Yeah. I have to agree. I think leaf blowers suck about as much as car alarms and souped up Harleys that set off car alarms!
December 1st, 2008 at 10:09 am
Amen Craig & Anne! Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The leaves, dust, debris, etc… keeps coming back.
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Hey, I got to use one this morning! In fact, I got to use one all last week, when the temperature was between 24 and 31 degrees! They are terrible inventions. Any breeze at all makes them inferior to a rake due to the nature of a device designed to make light things airborne. Stripping away top soil and mulch, spreading crap across the yard, polluting not just the air and atmosphere for the planet, but MY AIR I’m currently breathing right that moment when I pull the trigger to emit my mighty burst of air! I have always hated leaf blowers but have a newly discovered loathing for the machines since I have been made slave to one when my job cut my hours and the only other job I could come up with this time of year, is yard clean ups. I’ve done yard clean ups on my own, with rakes, piling the leaves into my Dodge maxi van. Laugh all you want. I can fit a crap ton of leaves in there. And I don’t leave a trail of leaves behind as I drive down the road. I charge $25 less than the employer I’m leaf blowing for currently, without the noise/air pollution. Does it take me a little longer? Sure. But in the end the customer doesn’t pay more and might just save some money not having to mulch when I’m done. Having found myself doing this dreadful job both with and without blowers, I have to say, I don’t mind humping leaves with a rake nearly as much as the noise and exhaust fumes from a blower. Raking can make you live longer, blowing sucks the life right out of you. Anybody in the Portsmouth, NH area need a NON-BLOWER yard clean up?
December 3rd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Josh, I don’t live in NH, but you should post your email here so people can hire you!!!! Just spell it out with spaces and “at” instead of @ so spammers can’t grab your address.
December 4th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Great information Josh. Thank you for your post.
March 20th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Leaf blowers are almost as stupid as there operators. I can hear two of them right now. The term moron comes to mind. I once went to New Smyrna Beach Fl on a Sunday for a little rest and relaxation. Got my chair down to the beach and sat down to relax. Ten minutes later I couldn’t believe mt ears. Some imbecile wearing an orange vest was standing on the board walk blowing the sand off of it. On Sunday morning, on the Atlantic Ocean, in a twenty mile per hour wind! That orange vest just meant more wasted tax dollars. I’d rather give the money to AIG.
The only good leaf blower is the one used to beat the operator to a pulp! LEAF BLOWERS SUCK!
March 20th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Barry, join us in hating the machine. But step off hating the operator. My hours were cut at my job in October and I found myself trying to find any form of work I could do to earn my living. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to my finace’s friend who owns a landscaping company. He hired me on at a good hourly wage. And so, despite my distaste for leaf blowers, I strapped one to my back and got to blowing.
I feel I can comment on the subject because I have had to use one, argued the benefit of rakes and brooms, and in the end, agreed to use a leaf blower when the application was appropriate, because that is what I could do for money.
Please have some respect for intelligent skilled people who can find no work better to do than to use a leaf blower. I assure you it is not by choice but by necessity for income. You could do more for the cause of the leaf blower abolition by supporting more skilled jobs in your community; manufacturing and engineering, education. Cease to support these skilled jobs being exported to other countries! Your blanket statement and support for violent retribution against some unfortunate person that has to do that sort of work for a living, suggests that you lack th e intelligence to look at the bigger picture and have a sense of how other people live,think, and how the world operates. If you think it’s annoying to listen to a leaf blower from the comfort of your beach chair, imagine having on on your back, leaking gasoline down your legs, blowing dust and mold into your face. -JB
May 9th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Leaf blowers should be banned. I’ve been listening to one now for about 30 minutes outside, and I’m 10 stories up from the sidewalk- and I can barely hear myself think. It’s absolutely the most selfish yard appliance there is: It wrecks the peace of an enjoyable saturday afternoon reading, for the sake of some one else wrapping up their yardwork in 10% less time than a rake and broom. LAME.
There is no justifcation for this much noise- everyone within 5 blocks should be issued hearing protection. Often, I see leaf blowers clearing sidewalks, driveways which look perfectly clean to me. All leaf blowers and leaf blower operators should be shipped off to a remote island where they can live as a leaf blower people, and see how many tourists they get.
May 31st, 2009 at 5:01 am
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June 10th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Oh yes, OH YES. Right now I’ve been listening to this maintenance idiot blow a 15′x10′ patch of grass in front of the apartment he maintains for 45 minutes! Still blowing strong, still going strong. I DESPISE LEAF BLOWERS AND THE IDIOTS THAT USE THEM.
To me, it’s a way for pea-brained lawn workers to “look busy” without doing much of anything. It puts on a good show for the property owner: a guy walking around blowing mowed grass, making lots of noise and looking ‘busy’ (despite getting nothing done). Standing around, blowing lawn clippings from point A to point B–totally unnecessary waste of time, and raising dust and MAKING NOISE. Lawn boys usually have very low IQs–which exacerbates the problem because it never occurs to them that they are disturbing numerous others in immediate vicinity and destroying their own hearing.
I think the engineers who make them deliberately make them loud for marketing purposes. “If it’s loud people will notice it and want to buy one thinking it’s strong”.
My dream is to tie up a lawn boy and stick the blower in one ear and the extra loud exhaust into the other ear. And leave him like this until the blower runs out of gas. Then fill the blowers gas tank. Repeat. Fill. Repeat…..etc.., etc.