Local Civic Action

Or, what I did last night

I believe in actual civic action. Last night, I gave remarks at my local Board of Supervisors meeting. In most municipalities, you, a resident, can show up and they let you talk. Below are my remarks, edited to remove the geography.

Thank you for allowing me to make these remarks. My name is Jessica Weingarten, and I am a long-term resident of <local place>. I’d like to request that the Board consider an outright ban of gas-powered leaf blowers.

I am wearing a mask because I am recovering from Stage 4 cancer. I do what I can to decrease the possibility of catching any respiratory disease, and to keep myself as healthy as possible. The gas-powered leaf blowers are a direct threat to my, and everyone else’s, health.

According to the Institute for Climate Change, Environment Health and Exposomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai:

“GLB emissions include carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, benzene, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter. In addition to impacting respiratory health and increasing asthma risk and severity, these pollutants are associated with numerous health outcomes including autism, cancer, heart disease, and dementia.”

While I’m not at high risk for asthma, autism, heart disease or dementia, I do NOT want to get cancer again. I’m asking you to help protect me, and others. From the airborne pollution, and the noise pollution. As we all know, too much loud noise can cause deafness.

Gas-powered leaf blowers are so extremely noisy and polluting that in just one hour of use, they emit as much air and climate pollution as driving from here in <local place> to Miami, Florida.

<Local place> would not be the first place to implement a ban. The state of California implemented one at the start of this year. Some of the more than 100 places that have banned or restricted their use include: Washington, D.C., Portland, Oregon; Montgomery County, Maryland; Burlington, Vermont; Montclair, New Jersey, and Evanston, Illinois. All over the country. WE CAN DO THIS!

I know that there will be blowback from the landscapers. They have money invested in the blowers. I get that. But, in addition to using them just for fallen leaves in the fall, here in <local place>, they use them every single week, just to take the occasional leaf, grass cutting, and even discarded wrappers and other trash, and blowing them into the street where they end up in the stormwater inlet – and potentially clogging things up. We have enough problems in our township with runoff and flooding without intentionally adding to it.

Here's my simple solution to the landscapers’ cost issues. First, just don’t blow things around when it’s just grass cuttings, it’s wasteful. Just stop. Another option is to use mulching mowers. They take grass cuttings (now blown around into the street) and turn them into fertilizer. This increases the nitrogen in the soil, and decreases the need for chemical fertilizers which are environmentally terrible, not to mention potentially harmful to animals. Saves both time and money for the landscapers.   

Then, instead of blowing all the leaves in the fall, which has the added detrimental impact of disturbing the topsoil and perennials, causing direct damage, they could take a step back. I did the research, and for the low, low price of nineteen dollars and change each, they could buy rakes. That’s cheaper in the long run than what they spend on fuel for their blowers now. I raked leaves as a kid. It’s not hard. It’s fun, and you can jump in the piles. Remember?

The point is that banning gas-powered leaf blowers doesn’t mean an automatic shift to battery powered ones, there are creative solutions that benefit all our residents, our pets, the environment and can be financially responsible.

Thanks again for your time and consideration in this matter.