Photo credit: Vlad Vasnetsov
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
Architectural Digest reports on Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett’s decades-long fight against leaf blowers. Although the fight is against all leaf blowers, I suspect that gas-powered leaf blowers are the real source of her ire. The short article is humorous but contains a lot of information.
Blanchett has been talking about leaf blowers for a long time. According to the article, she first mentioned them in a 2007 interview with W Magazine in which said, “Leaf blowers summarize everything that is wrong with the human race.” They are noisy and they are polluting. From an ecological viewpoint, Blanchett is right. Leaf blowing can aerosolize dust, soot, dog waste, spores, rubber tire particles and even heavy metals that have settled on the ground. Removing leaves, grass and other organic matter deprives the soil of food needed for plant and soil health. Leaves also provide natural cover for insects that are a source of food for birds, lizards and other small animals.
The good news is that technology and regulations are shifting landscape maintenance practices. Increasingly, localities and states are restricting their use. In 2021, the California Air Resources Board adopted a measure requiring newly manufactured leaf blowers, lawn mowers and other small off-road engines to be zero emissions by 2024. Other cities, like Irvine, California, are phasing out the use of all gas-powered landscape care equipment. Although Germany hasn’t banned leaf blowers, it has advised against their use because of the harm they cause insect species, which have declined dramatically in numbers.
A change in landscape maintenance practices is needed. Accomplishing this will require a new business model and a valuation of good landcare services that recognize the importance of worker health, public health and the health of our increasingly fragile ecosystems. The goal should be cleaner, quieter landcare for all.
