If you spend Saturday morning revving multiple 90dB engines in your front yard, the police will come and ask you to stop... unless you're using them to blow leaves around. Leaf blowers don't need to be banned, we simply need to stop treating them as an exception. It seems to me that the best solution would be to enforce existing noise and pollution ordinances and require landscapers to get quieter (possibly electric) equipment.
Leaf blowers are a scourge. Why is it hard to get rid of them?
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Re: Leaf blowers are a scourge. Why is it hard to get rid of them?
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why people would put so much effort into growing useless grass is astonishing to me. You can grow anything there and you choose grass? Why? I assume it has to do with an HOA? Or aesthetics? Or it’s easier?
It’s important for me to have grass to keep the dogs away from the ticks. Since I like the grass, I put about 2-3 days a year into maintaining it and making it as nice as I think is necessary. And mow 40mins a week. But growing grass can be just as rewarding as growing anything else.
> But growing grass can be just as rewarding as growing anything else.
This is true in the general sense, but it's also mostly subjective. There are plenty of divisive yet enjoyable pursuits in the world.
Re: Leaf blowers are a scourge. Why is it hard to get rid of them?
#63It’s just a symptom of the larger problem of manicured lawns being the number one “managed crop” in America. Eliminating home lawn is probably one of the singular things that would significantly slow down our destruction of the planet I’m sure someone will post some reason why their lawn is different somehow [1] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lawn-largest-crop-america_n_5... [2] https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisf…
Why people would put so much effort into growing useless grass is astonishing to me. You can grow anything there and you choose grass? Why? I assume it has to do with an HOA? Or aesthetics? Or it’s easier?
What would you put that is better? Although not perfect, lawns IMO are a good combination of practicality/aesthetic/maintenance.
Re: Leaf blowers are a scourge. Why is it hard to get rid of them?
#64It’s just a symptom of the larger problem of manicured lawns being the number one “managed crop” in America. Eliminating home lawn is probably one of the singular things that would significantly slow down our destruction of the planet I’m sure someone will post some reason why their lawn is different somehow [1] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lawn-largest-crop-america_n_5... [2] https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisf…
Lawns are beautiful and useful. Are we not allowed to expend resources for beautiful and useful things?
Public parks are too. If you've got reasonable access to one, do you need the other? Or rather, is a private lawn something that should be taxed (much?) more heavily where a park is available within 15 mins walk? And should urban planners take that into account, and developments be penalised when they don't?
Re: Leaf blowers are a scourge. Why is it hard to get rid of them?
#65“40% of homeowners with lawns pay for landscaping services”?!? Wow. I had no idea the number was that large. That seems so … lazy. EDIT: I should say that I'm biased and think green thick pristine lawns are a blight. (Irony noted.)
Yeah, they cite that, but their rephrasing is a little dubious.
If you follow the link, it is 40% of homeowners have paid for landscaping services in the past year.
So I mow my own lawn, not much work with a reel mower, small lot, the highest setting, maybe twice a month. However, this spring I hired somebody to trim a hedge that I’ve done myself in the past but requires a tall ladder, which I had borrowed from someone who moved. If you have someone come out and look at a damaged or diseased tree, that would also do it I think (unless arborists are separated out)
Re: Leaf blowers are a scourge. Why is it hard to get rid of them?
#66It’s just a symptom of the larger problem of manicured lawns being the number one “managed crop” in America. Eliminating home lawn is probably one of the singular things that would significantly slow down our destruction of the planet I’m sure someone will post some reason why their lawn is different somehow [1] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lawn-largest-crop-america_n_5... [2] https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisf…
Why people would put so much effort into growing useless grass is astonishing to me. You can grow anything there and you choose grass? Why? I assume it has to do with an HOA? Or aesthetics? Or it’s easier?
My lawn has 100s of plants in addition to grass. I’ve never actually seen a lawn that was just grass.
What’s astonishing to me is how deeply some folks care about what I plant around my house for my own enjoyment, and how willing they are to nominate themselves to tell me to change it.
The nice thing about grass is how little effort it takes to maintain. Not everyone wants to be a full time gardener.
Re: Leaf blowers are a scourge. Why is it hard to get rid of them?
#67They use blowers to move snow around in Canada as well. I was a little unnerving to wake up to what sounded like lawnmowers on my first night in Calgary, Alberta, in the middle of winter. I wonder if the electric ones are quieter and can still get the job done.
Yes this entire thing is a hullabaloo over a soon to be solved problem.
All ICE devices are more expensive than battery based ones fundamentally, it's just that the economies of scale and battery tech is still a couple notches down. Well, and the battery based devices are "luxury" versions of the "dirty ICE" variants, so they currently command a ridiculous premium.
I keep waiting for plunging battery economics to come to eGo battery packs and they don't. This isn't just someone bitching about prices of a lock-in tool company, lawncare is a MASSIVE carbon and air pollution problem, and switchover costs to non-ICE tools is much less of a lift than a 30,000$ car.
Like ebikes, there should be aggressive incentives for consumers to get electric tools for lawn care, and aggressive pressure on companies to drop battery pack prices.
And like the torque advantage of electric motors in cars for racing off the line, the EV torque advantage typically provides a superior tool.
Re: Leaf blowers are a scourge. Why is it hard to get rid of them?
#68Right at the very bottom the article suggests the correct way to deal with fallen leaves: leave them alone. They decompose and provide nutrients to the grass.
Mulching leaves with a mower would deal with them just fine in many cases. The landscaper in the article doesn't need to cancel all of his fall cleanup contracts. Areas with dense oak trees however, might have so many leaves mulching would choke out the grass.
Re: Leaf blowers are a scourge. Why is it hard to get rid of them?
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pretty sure driving 1-2 ton cars every day and flying planes do a way better job of destroying the planet than mowing the lawn with a small four-cycle motor once a week.
Lawns use ridiculous amounts of water for zero agricultural productivity.
uh, have you never been to a park? that isn't irrigated and looks fine.
Re: Leaf blowers are a scourge. Why is it hard to get rid of them?
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pretty sure driving 1-2 ton cars every day and flying planes do a way better job of destroying the planet than mowing the lawn with a small four-cycle motor once a week.
Lawns use ridiculous amounts of water for zero agricultural productivity.
Unless that water makes it to a street drain, it’s a 100% renewable resource.
When that water evaporates, it goes up in the air, and then falls back down as water.