Email:
Dear neighbors,
We’re delighted to report that more and more of you are switching to electric leaf-blowers. A number of gardeners and associations on campus have moved to these electrical devices. That’s great. We’re making progress as a community. Gas-powered leaf blowers emit low frequency sound that travels widely and can be distracting, and their two-stroke engines produce a truly astounding amount of ozone pollution and carcinogens. Particularly in the current era, when we are working and teaching with a background of leaf-blowing noise, we are grateful for those of you willing to talk with your gardeners.
Because Palo Alto has banned gas blowers and most of the surrounding communities are exploring such measures, many gardeners already possess electric blowers, so it may be as simple as asking your landscape professional to substitute one for the other. Those who have used the devices report that they are nearly as powerful as the gas-powered ones (they seem not to work as well with heavy wet leaves, but otherwise seem effective). As a reminder, here is an article that summarizes some of the research and the reasons why some municipalities have banned them—you’ll need to read into the article to find the data on two stroke engines and their impact.
Thank you for all that you do.
The SCRL Leafblower Committee:
Tanya Luhrmann
Grace Hinton
Jim Sweeney