I had just spent an hour sweeping our front porch, staircase and the sidewalk in front of our house. While I was sweeping I looked up to see the thick film of dirt covering the front of the house that I had spent months painting on scaffolding. Then I looked down the block and noticed a member of Los Angeles’ legion of mow and blow crews kicking up a huge cloud of dust. In an angry moment I later regretted, I glared at him and pointed at my broom. He smiled in return.
Why are leaf blowers bad? The reasons are almost too numerous to mention. Journalist Emily Green points out that during a drought,
It’s more important than ever to stop this practice and that leaves be left piled near trees, grass left where it falls after mowing and that leaf blowers not leave the truck. Any foliage that spills into streets should be raked. Leaf blowers in drought send dry earth airborne to lethal effects for asthma sufferers, particularly children and infants.
Power Tools by Rubén Ortiz-Torres, 1999.
Los Angeles banned gas powered leaf blowers in 1998. The ban has never been enforced. Artist Rubén Ortiz-Torres captured, perfectly, the racial and class tension surrounding the ban in a series of customized power tools, including the tricked out leaf blower above. It’s hard to address the problems with leaf blowers without also getting into the thorny politics surrounding race, class and immigration.
Leaf blowers exist in a symbiotic relationship with “low maintenance” landscapes which consist of a lawn and brutally pruned hedges. These water hungry landscapes provide neither food, beauty or habitat. (They are also not enjoyed by people: half of the suburban participants in a UCLA study of home life in SoCal never went into their backyard. Another 25 percent went outside for a few minutes a week.) Yet this style of landscape is our dominant style of landscape because the homeowner doesn’t need to think about it, and the maintenance crews can move through the space with their machinery quickly. Volume allows these business to charge little for their services, which makes their services affordable to most homeowners, which encourages homeowners to keep their landscapes in a form easily serviced. In other words, it’s a self-perpetuating cycle. And it’s a cycle we can’t afford anymore, for so many reasons. And for me, our reliance on leaf blowers is emblematic of all these problems.
I struggle with how to tackle the leaf blower problem. In a perfect world, the mow and blow crews would get horticultural education that they could then use to charge a living wage to maintain ecologically beneficial landscapes. Homeowners who couldn’t afford gardening services would discover the joy of gardening.
I’ve also thought of getting our neighbors together to discuss the issue and come up with alternatives, but I’m not sure this would work. So I’m going to toss the issue out to you, our dear readers.
Do you have a leaf blower problem where you live? Is this just an LA problem, or is it a national or international problem?
Has your city attempted a ban? If so, is the ban enforced?
Has your city provided education for gardeners?
Have you ever had a conversation with your neighbors about leaf blowers?
What are ways you’ve thought of dealing with the leaf blowers?
What solutions do you think could shift the mow and blow paradigm?
The leaf blowers in France and germany….
Around 03:32
http://www.arte.tv/guide/fr/resultats-de-recherche?keyword=souffleur+de+feuilles
The conclusion “from Karambolage” is that autumn in France and Germany is now noisy and pollution.
And human stupidity is global.
Nice to know that we’ve exported this problem!
Mow, Blow and Go is the mantra here for many landscapers. The drought is starting to change some minds, though. Many of the landscapers are using this job as a step up from farm work or as a replacement for lost ag jobs because of political water displacements.
The real issue is that many landscape as if they are living in the Northeast with a climate of summer rain. CA is more like a desert. If water is going to be used on land it should be for growing crops, either farmers or home gardeners.
We have no grass in our yard nor in the garden we work in our neighbors back yard. All water used is for food production. We use drip irrigation and minimize the water usage to what the plants need to survive and produce. Yet if you look at many of our small town’s yards they are lush and green. A huge paradigm shift needs to take place or we will be the next Dust Bowl here in the San Joaquin Valley.
Not to mention the harm to the people using the blowers. Hearing loss included.
A church member came to my home and asked if they could help me with my yard work. They did a great job and then got out two or three leaf blowers. I have a fence on two sides and lots of trash bushes and trees along a retaining wall. The back neighbors decided years ago to put up a wooden fence along the chain link that came with the house. I caught them before they filled the space between the two fences. The leaves build up between the fences and become soil that ends up preventing drainage. My back yard is slowly becoming a bowl. When they blew the leaves and grass clippings into the fence beside my house, the debris just hit the fence, swirled up and was quite a display. Then, the leaves formed a three foot swath along the fence and killed the grass. Yet again, the yard builds up there to help with the bowl.
The leaves blown into bushes near the retaining wall just looked nasty.
I have many allergies and asthma. The air could be seen full of dust for hours. All my lawn furniture was coated in dust and dirt and leaves.
You made me think. In this Historic District I have never heard a leaf blower. I do see neighbors raking all the time.
This crew of 9 had 7 power tools that they used all at once, it seemed. There was not a rake to be seen on the pickups. When I stopped them from using the leaf blowers, they had to use my rakes to half-finish the job. No one was thrilled, especially the older teens who were not allowed to use the chain saws and the hedge trimmers. No, I don’t trim hedges, I judiciously prune them. They begged me to let them trim my shrubs nice and round or square. Neither.
You know, if I scowled and pointed to a broom, I am sure they would have assumed the witch was going to fly away.
Back in the day, when we lived in NJ and had an acre of land that was surrounded by oak trees resulting in an acre of leaves, we too used a blower to help move those leaves into condensed areas. Then it was rake them onto tarps, drag them into the forest and dump them to rot. Of course, these were also the days when my DH considered THE LAWN to be high garden art. Now we live in AZ, and not only have we given up the blower (and thankfully, only one or two of our neighbors use landscaping services than include blowers), but have given up the weed wacker for a scythe. Still learning how to use that lethal blade, but it is so much better than the mechanical monster!
We live in the Northeast and have property that is about 60% huge oak and maple trees. The husband does use the electric blower to corral them into a mountainous pile so we can drag them off, while I prefer a rake for the exercise. Unfortunately, the quantity of leaves just swamps my puny efforts.
Our township does have a noise ordinance regarding the decibel limit of such tools, but we have new neighbors who own the loudest gas blower I’ve ever heard, so I’m thinking it’s not well enforced.
I live in Portland Oregon and work for a law enforcement agency which uses inmate work crews and, I think, a non inmate yard crew. There isn’t a lot of yard to maintain. Every Fall people are out there with blowers, no rakes, although both county and city have a stated commitments to environmentalism and sustainability. I made a few attempts to urge raking rather than blowing with people higher up but got blank looks and the response once that we can’t micromanage the subcontractors. Law enforcement agencies are pretty hierarchical and I gave up. To be fair, there are work “green teams” a person can join if she is willing to go to meetings and work in groups. Maybe they know how to push issues effectively.
I think it just isn’t on everybody’s radar yet, so we are still at the point where people feel bossed around or lectured on what they think of as personal preference, or haven’t thought of at all. More publicity and getting local government to make a rule would probably work around here.
I am in the Beaverton area. Not only do they use blowers and run the sprinklers on the muddy lawn, they try to use blowers even when it is rainy and the leaves stick to everything. What? Since I am from L.A., I am also not used to everyone here burning their leaves.. It makes for such nice compost. I wish they would implement sucking type leaf collecting instead of blowing, then there wouldn’t be so much dust.
I live in Palo Alto, near San Francisco CA, and blowers are a HUGE problem here. In our climate, leaves and debris drop all year long, and about half my neighbors hire mow and blow crews. This means that Monday through Friday (and sometimes Saturday) year round, there is at least one blower going in the neighborhood at all times between about 8 am and 3pm. And gas blowers are illegal here! The ban is only enforced if a resident calls the police to complain.
One semi-solution I’ve found is negotiating with the guys using the blowers. I warn them that gas blowers are illegal, and tell them that my mean neighbor likes to call the police on blowers (true), but that if they use it on very low power, quietly and kicking up less dust, the neighbor won’t be bothered. After having this conversation about 25 times with each crew on the block (literally — this is a long term negotiation) most of them use the blowers only on a steady low power. It’s certainly not perfect, but it’s better than the alternative.
I think the real solution to enforcing blower bans would be to fine the property owners rather than the mow and blow crews. I feel bad about calling the police on a crew of Central Americans who aren’t earning much money. But if the fine went to my tech millionaire neighbors with their water guzzling lawn, I wouldn’t hesitate, and they might think twice about hiring a blower.
Tell me a leaf sucking reverse blower exists? Yes, a vacuum- but for yardwork, and how do we get them to use this instead..
Google “leaf removal equipment”. There appears to be quite a range of leaf slurping and gathering devices. There is one that seems rather “green”, kind of a broad push mower-like device with a large bag and no blades, for $139.00. There are quite a few big vacuums with large, flexible tubes starting at about $1000.00. (As loud as my indoor vacuum is, I can imagine one of these being a real ear-splitter). Then there are the big leaf vacuum trucks. No prices listed on these.
I like my $10 rake. I just scoot the leaves over to the now and future garden beds. Sometimes, I go get the neighbor’s leaves, too. They don’t garden.
My big problem with leaf blowers, other than the ones already mentioned, is that they are no fun, and they reinforce the separation between us and our environment. I mean, it’s a great time to grab the kids and dogs and rakes and go out on a clear crisp fall day to pile the leaves up, jump in and throw them around a little, find all kinds of interesting goodies and extra pretty leaves. I love the smell and sound of the dry leaves, and always am up for a hot chocolate after a good afternoon outside.
I wonder how many kids have never raked or jumped into a huge pile of leaves? I feel sad for them!
Didn’t we at one time in our civilization get along without leaf blowers? Why exactly do we need to remove the leaves. If you have lots of trees, the leaves will provide valuable nutrients as they decompose. I feel like it is a bit of an obsession with how things look. It is such a shame that we use yet something more that eats up fossil fuel and releases pollutants in our efforts to look good for our neighbors. And Moe is right, it isn’t on anyone’s radar screen.
Claremont banned gas powered blowers in the 90s. We just moved here and hear them all the time. When I called the police, they didn’t know about the ban… When I called the city they sounds concerned and took down the details. Not really sure what the follow up will be, but they did admit that when they issue fines to landscaping companies, most just pay it and keep using them the following week. We’ll see who’s blowing with what (gas or electric, I mean!) next week.
Years ago, working in my home office in my congested Chicago neighborhood . . .
All afternoon, up and down the street, my neighbor’s landscapers mow, blow, and go while I moan, blow my top (to myself), and go crazy from the high-octane, high-decibel whine of those confounded leaf blowers.
I could hardly do any work, and this scene was repeated summer after summer for decades.
And, indeed, there’s nothing new under the sun.
I live near a motorcycle sales store. They use their parking lot like a car sales does: to display their vehicles to prospective buyers. But because of the relative ease of stealing a bike over stealing a car, they don’t leave them outside all night; they put them away inside somewhere, then wheel them out every morning.
So, every morning at 6:30, some guy would blow the parking lot clear of leaves/detritus with a leaf-blower. Complaining did nothing. The only thing that worked was when we got a copy of the city by-laws, highlighted the noise part banning leaf-blowers et al (before 7 am weekdays, and 9 am weekends and holidays) and taped that sucker to their door.
The next day the guy was out there with a broom. They eventually went back to blowing, but later in the day. So it’s a partial win. Now if we could only get them to stop their customers from driving and revving up and down our side street when test driving stuff.
Los Angeles and Santa Monica have both banned them yet I have seen Caltrans and people maintaining city property using them on numerous occasions. If they don’t set a good example how can they expect anyone else to take it seriously?
On a more positive note the mow and blow crews that work across the street manage to create 3 full green bins of good organic matter almost every week. In an urban environment I find it handy to realize that my permaculture zones extend far beyond my property line.
Jess, great idea!
Won’t the vacuums for leaves pick up sticks, acorns, pecans, and dust?
It is easier and more cost effective to pay fines than to lose time raking.
One reason leaf blowers are more popular than brooms is because brooms don’t have on/off switches and go vroom vroom. If they did, brooms might be used more often.
If you leave the leaves on the ground, next year there will be no grass. Ask me how I know. The year I divorced, I commented to a person at work that leaves in the forest are never raked, and the forest gets along just fine. The next spring/summer, I complained to the same person that my grass was dead. That person reminded me there is no grass in the forest.
I meant rakes and not brooms.
In Italy several city councils use them to clean the streets all year around not only in the fall. They use it to blow dust and whatever is there or not there on the streets starting anytime between 6:30 and 8 AM including public holidays and Saturdays.
Two guys on foot with leaf blowers precede the cleaning truck. They take more than 20 minutes of terrible noise to “clean” the 30 meters dead end road under my flat. Once a week, every week of the year.
The city where I leave has also a major problem with PM10 (legal limits passed several days each year) so blowing dust around really doesn’t seem the best option but I do not see any hope for change on this practice.
I am in California too, its a dry place most of the time. Especially now with the drought carrying on. Now its Fall again, and I find myself looking up this topic.
I am surrounded by houses that all use a service to chop and dice their plant material. Neither house on each side of mine has a single tree. The one behind, same thing. There is a patch of grass and little lollypop bushes cut into nice round and flat topped shapes. I have a large tree, and yes the leaves fall down. Most weeks I just put the catcher on the battery powered mulching mower and it chops the leaves and takes them off the grass. I use a broom to sweep the edges of the walk and driveway. Only a couple weeks a year do I actually need to rake up the leaves, because the mower would be overwhelmed by the volume. Its not that hard, and it takes me two hours per week, tops and the yard looks great to me.
But the mow and blows hate me, my neighbor laughs at me, the one neighbor that I actually see outside, that is. He is older, and I can see why needs help to do their maintenance. The younger people, who knows. They spend time in front of the TV or PC I guess. Its easy to pay someone to do their work for them. I take pride in being able to do my own work, get the exercise, spend time outside enjoying what I am paying for to live here. I am a small minority though.
I have asked the neighbor to tell their crew not to blow all the dirt and leaves into my property, it doesn’t help. Now its Fall again and they just did it, my sidewalk looks lovely. My neighbor tells me that “I” need to tell them not to do it. I love it, its “MY” responsibility in their eyes. What an attitude. All you would need to do is use your brain and blow from each end and then pick it up in the middle…but nooo… Its easier to push it into my hedge, or into my sidewalk frontage. I even think now that I have complained, they do it even more aggressively. Its pretty sad that this is how things are, in our world today. Around here, they even brag how they are not going to save any water, or conserve anything really…embarassing.
The young people need to pay others to do their yard work so that they have time to use the gym membership they paid for. Otherwise how would they get any exercise?
When we bought our house I got hounded by guys wanting to do our yard work. It finally stopped when they saw me cut down the two termite infested trees and dig the stumps out myself(I didn’t want termite infested stumps right by the house). Now they just think I’m crazy.
Wow, I had never considered leaf blowers a problem before. I guess that is because here, in rural Spain, we don’t use them. Of course, most homes don’t have grass either. We do have a golf course in town, though, but since they are constantly mowing, leaf blowers are not used (PS, the golf course uses recycled sewage and drainwater for irrigation).
I never thought too much about it, after living 15 years in a HOA that included gardening. Now that I have my own gardner (that I inherited when I purchased the house) and my own pool & pool guy, blowers drive me nuts!!! I tried to explain to the gardner that the pool guy comes mon & thurs. . . he cleans the pool. The gardner comes Tuesday & blows all the debris into the pool, making it dirty until either I clean it, or the pool guy comes on Thursday. I want to fire him & find someone who doesn’t use blowers. Can’t they use vaccums? All a blower does is move the dust & dirt & leaves from my yard to the neighbor, to the golf course & back to my yard again. It is the same dirt- – it never goes away, its just blown from 1 area to another!!!!!
Leaf blowers are a real problem where I live in Sonoma, CA. People use them without thinking, at times where there are no leaves (not that you would have to use one anyway), I even saw people using them in the rain walking around… It’s a total joke.
I moved to Sonoma for its quality of life, to be in a quiet and eco place… And you get an army of leaf blowers going all week, for no reason. I work from home and this will make me move…
We are trying to ban them for many reasons you guys mentioned, if you have 10 seconds, please consider signing our petition even if you don’t live here:
https://www.change.org/p/sonoma-city-council-ban-leaf-blowers-in-the-city-of-sonoma
Thank you!
I bought a house 3 years ago in central california in a quiet(or so I thought) neighborhood.
My house has a fenced back yard & side yards on either side providing space & a sense of privacy.
The best part is )or so I thought) that my house backs up to a nursing homes rear garden area that has a large expanse of grass & tall trees. Many squirrels & birds live there. I love the park-like feel.
You’d think living next to the back garden of a nursing home would be peaceful & serene but once a week gardeners come to service their grounds. Since we are in a drought, water conservation is being strictly enforced. Many lawns are dying as a result & the nursing home’s is no exception. Still the gardeners come & blow the dead lawns for 1-2 hrs each & every week. Huge clouds of dirt are blown into the air, wafting over the fence into my yard to settle on my patio furniture & windows (& if I am unfortunate enough to have my windows open) inside my house.
Pollution is a major concern here as well. There are wood burning restrictions enforced 3 months out of the year to cut down on particulate smoke matter when there is an inversion layer so people with asthma, etc. can breath. Why oh why then are inefficient gas powered leaf blowers allowed to spew pollution into the air unchecked?
Not only are they deafeningly loud, they are deadly. Once a week when I’m trying to enjoy a nap or the peace of my back yard I instead end up wishing I could snatch the infernal sound/air polluting machines off these gardener’s backs & hand them all rakes. It’s maddening.