Solutions exist that don’t require dangerous gas powered leaf blowers. A combination of healthy lawn and garden maintenance practices and safer tool choices makes it possible to achieve beautiful outdoor spaces and also keep our neighborhoods quiet and safe. Advocating for gas free maintenance in our own homes and in public spaces will also help keep workers safer by eliminating their exposure to these harmful tools.
Practice healthy yard care
Embrace a less manicured look and let nature do its thing. The more flexible we can be about a few blossoms and leaves here or there, the less time-consuming it is to maintain, the healthier the garden will be and we can avoid using unhealthy gas blowers to keep things looking “clean.”
• Leave the leaves under trees and shrubs to build mulch, healthy soil and habitat for pollinators and wildlife.
• Grasscycling – leave grass clippings on the lawn or use a mulching mower. Clippings are a natural fertilizer, beneficial for the lawn and will decompose and disappear quickly.
• Plant care – avoid the use of leaf blowers around plantings as they erode and compact the soil, and damage habitat for beneficial insects and pollinators
Choose safer tools
Tools that don’t create toxic fumes, dust and noise are gentler on the environment. Gas blowers are often overkill for the work that is required, and good alternatives exist for light cleaning and even for heavy leaf clearing.
• Use a broom or rake instead of a gas blower to eliminate massive pollution, dust and noise. They are more efficient tools than many people think.
• Battery/electric alternatives to gas powered tools are readily available and effective if used responsibly.
• Blow with caution – If you must use a blower, make sure there are no bystanders within 50 feet and do not use on dusty surfaces.
Support healthy jobs
Help create demand for green healthy jobs. Gas blowers are most dangerous for the workers who operate them.
By signalling that you care about the air quality in your neighborhood, you are helping your neighbors and creating healthier jobs for our local workers.
• Ask contractors not to use blowers to clean up.
• Talk with contractors about the harmful effects of gas equipment. Ask them what support they need to switch to safer, healthier tools.
• Send this Letter to Your Landscaping Company – No Use of Gas Powered Leaf Blowers asking them not to use gas powered leaf blowers on your property.
• Hire eco landscapers. Choose lawn maintenance services, landscapers and arborists who do not use gas powered equipment.
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un leaf blower
Gunning at dawn
as if to secure
the right to water
the lawn, to leave
the engine on, to burn
what we please
and pile the debris
on someone else’s
doorstep, to adjust
one’s mask before
asphyxiating others,
a two-stroke civic
discourse at full
throttle keeps
the peace and
quiet clean.
Verse thanks to Jennifer Martenson