Most people think of gas-powered leaf blowers as primarily an annoyance, due to their loud noise. It surprises them to find out that these machines also seriously damage our health and the environment. Using clean alternatives such as battery-powered blowers and rakes makes neighborhoods not only quieter, but healthier – safe from the many harms of gas leaf blowers.
Actions You Can Take to Ensure the Success of Portland’s Ordinance:
- Use the City’s complaint form to report the use of a gas leaf blower between January 1 and September 30. Let others in your circles know about this form.
- Distribute the flyers below to property owners, property managers, landscape contractors and your neighbors to let them know about the policy. You can print them out yourself or request copies from us at info@qcpdx.org:
- Take Charge! – flyer with English & Spanish versions
- Time to Switch – flyer with English & Spanish versions
- Leaf Blower Ban – flyer in both English & Spanish
- Use our landscapers directory to find a contractor compliant with Portland’s ordinance and committed to cleaner, quieter yard care.
Other Actions To Take, Here and Elsewhere:
- Sign up for our newsletter for the latest information and resources.
- Join our Facebook group to stay current and support the effort.
- Share your thoughts and ideas on Nextdoor.com – people care about what their neighbors say. Let them know about Quiet Clean PDX.
- Distribute postcards about the harms of gas leaf blowers. Contact Albert to get cards to distribute or mail to your neighbors & friends, or download these image files and share on social media.
- Share our QCPDX leaf blower presentation and gas leaf blower emissions fact sheet with landscapers, friends, and neighbors, hand them out at public events, share on social media, and use them to give your own presentations.
- Ask your landscaping contractor to avoid using gas leaf blowers and other gas-powered yard equipment. Here’s a tip sheet for talking to your contractor, and here’s a letter to your contractor that you can personalize as you wish (here’s the Spanish version.)
- Do you live in a development with an HOA? Ask the board to require its landscape contractors to use electric blowers… or no blowers. You can tailor this template letter and send to your HOA board.
- Replace your gas-powered yard equipment with safer tools, and practice healthy, sustainable yard care. Sometimes doing less work can actually be better for your yard!
For Whom the Leaf Blower Blows
Consumer-grade cost cutters
available in mildly indifferent and turbo screw all y’all models*
shift the burden of debris
faster than you can say externality
*inline deregulators sold separately
Contributed by Jennifer Martenson