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Posting a political cliche that tangentially relates to the article title and has nothing to do with the article content is more of a reddit thing.
A group of activists got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital (2019)
41–50 of 176 posts
Re: A group of activists got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital (2019)
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Part of it is because of lawns, if you have a lot of trees the leaves can simply smother your lawn. But even in cities there’s reasons to clean them up. They clog drains, they lump together in the gutter creating blockages that cause large puddles when it rains, they stain the pavement, they decompose on the sidewalk and people track it everywhere in buildings, and more. Maybe you don’t see these as problems that nee…
Everywhere in America that I have lived, their primary use case is landscapers blowing leaves and trash from private property into the street, thereby clogging drains.
As an American, I have only ever seen the opposite. Pretty much everyone where I'm at just mows over the leaves. Blowers mostly used to clear streets and sidewalks. Rakes are sometimes used to collect leaves and burn them, but even that is uncommon.
However, I live in the midwest. We don't have as many trees here as the east or west coasts.
Re: A group of activists got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital (2019)
#43I live in DC, a few bits of info about why it makes sense here, and may not make sense in your home: 1. They didn't ban leaf blowers, the banned _gas_ leaf blowers. Electric ones are quieter, inexpensive, and work just as well nowadays. My building has an electric Milwaukee that was 200 bucks and lasts all afternoon on a battery or two. 2. This isn't about people wanting to manicure their lawns out in the burbs at 7a…
> people and companies have to buy new leaf blowers and batteries
It seems hopelessly anachronistic and impractical, but why can't rakes be an alternative? It would take more time, but the landscapers would be paid more if they're working hourly.
Re: A group of activists got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital (2019)
#44Outlaw as the author calls them “groomed lawns”. They’re a waste of time, energy and resources that could all be going towards something productive.
Imagine the hubris it takes to think you have the right to choose what people can and "should" spend their time on. I'm guessing you have yet to grasp the concept of individual freedom.
Imagine the hubris it takes to say what another person should think?
Maybe they already know the concept of individual freedom allows them to think and say what they believe?
Re: A group of activists got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital (2019)
#45Wouldn't be more efficient to just ban ICE cars? I'm sure they create way more pollution than leaf blowers.
No they do not create more pollution, at least on a per-unit basis. As it states in the article 2-stroke motors create a ton of air pollution. It is also much easier to ban 2-stroke motors, which have cheap electrical alternatives than ICE cars in a car dependent US city.
As I mentioned in another comment in this, 2-strokes don't need to produce horrible amounts of emissions, you just need to mix the proper amount of oil in with the gas for the given engine load. This can be done (and is done!) today with injected 2-stroke motorcycles. The emissions go down dramatically and you can get as much or even more power than a traditional pre-mix 2-stroke.
Re: A group of activists got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital (2019)
#46Living in Europe, most people just leave fallen leaves alone. I've never seen someone use a leaf blower except for dust etc. Is it a uniquely American thing to obsess over tidying up leaves?
Frequent leaf blowing is very much an issue where i live in Sweden. Where can I move to escape the leaf blowing? I despise the energy waste and pollution, especially the noise. The leaf blowers never seem to be doing useful work anyway; all they do is to move small amounts of organic matter a couple meters.
Re: A group of activists got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital (2019)
#47Living in Europe, most people just leave fallen leaves alone. I've never seen someone use a leaf blower except for dust etc. Is it a uniquely American thing to obsess over tidying up leaves?
Part of it is because of lawns, if you have a lot of trees the leaves can simply smother your lawn. But even in cities there’s reasons to clean them up. They clog drains, they lump together in the gutter creating blockages that cause large puddles when it rains, they stain the pavement, they decompose on the sidewalk and people track it everywhere in buildings, and more. Maybe you don’t see these as problems that nee…
End of season forking them on to a hedgehog heap?
Re: A group of activists got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital (2019)
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is now fuel injected 2-stroke engines which will pass the current Euro4 emissions rules for dirt bikes and motorcycles. There's no reason that a small 2-stroke can't have lower emissions today. It's clearly more expensive to make a fuel and oil injected 2-stroke engine than a simple pre-mix 2-stroke, but it's possible and then you get all the benefits (and even more!) of a traditional 2-stroke in terms of power…
One of the major benefits of a two stroke engine is the simplicity of the design, which lowers cost, reduces size, and increases reliability. Your proposal is a net loss on all these factors. A far better solution is to replace these sorts of things with battery powered electric solutions.
2-strokes output more power. This isn't my proposal, this is a thing which exists in the world today, produced by various different engine manufacturers for sale to the public today in motorcycles.
Miniaturizing it to work on a hand-held lawn care device is just an engineering task.
Re: A group of activists got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital (2019)
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
This has been a benefit of buying electric power tools and mowers for me. Nobody can hear them if they're not pretty close.
I opened the door recently just to have a tiny rock fly from a weed whacker across the way come RIGHT into my eye, it hurt for over a day. Just hearing those rocks hit against my window is stressful enough but that was enough for me to fantasize about locking people up for using these things if I owned my own small country.
How about banning grass lawns instead? They're incredibly wasteful. We could be using land to grow food or do other useful things
Re: A group of activists got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital (2019)
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is now fuel injected 2-stroke engines which will pass the current Euro4 emissions rules for dirt bikes and motorcycles. There's no reason that a small 2-stroke can't have lower emissions today. It's clearly more expensive to make a fuel and oil injected 2-stroke engine than a simple pre-mix 2-stroke, but it's possible and then you get all the benefits (and even more!) of a traditional 2-stroke in terms of power…
One of the major benefits of a two stroke engine is the simplicity of the design, which lowers cost, reduces size, and increases reliability. Your proposal is a net loss on all these factors. A far better solution is to replace these sorts of things with battery powered electric solutions.
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