Leave the leaves

Blow Off Leaf Blowing and Grab a Rake

By Frank Carini / ecoRI News columnist

The fact we use machines to blow grass clippings off driveways, pavement, and concrete walkways and leaves around yards is silly. The fact we routinely do it with noisy, polluting, fossil fuel-powered equipment is idiotic.

Of all the nature-spoiling, health-degrading tools of the lawn-care industry, gasoline-powered leaf blowers easily generate the most disdain. They’re obnoxious, and unnecessary.

Much of the lawn-care industry, however, holds gas-powered leaf blowers in high esteem. The industry has claimed that banning them or limiting their use would put landscaping companies out of business, jobs would be lost, work production would decrease, the cost of landscaping services would climb, and the physical burden placed upon workers would increase.

Wow. I didn’t realize gas-powered leaf blowers shared the same stratosphere as sliced bread.

Using a rake or broom is so 1980s, but it’s still not that strenuous or time-consuming, and is much healthier than lugging around an emissions-spewing backpack. 

Gas-powered leaf blowers emit a variety of pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, carbon dioxide, and unburnt hydrocarbons that contribute to climate change and smog. 

They’re also not hospitable to human lungs. Among the carcinogenic compounds emitted by gas-powered leaf blowers are benzene, butadiene, and formaldehyde.

Research has found that operating a gas-powered commercial leaf blower for an hour emits the same amount of smog-producing pollutants as driving a new light-duty passenger car about 1,100 miles.

The public and industry workers may soon be getting a respite from this needless pollution.

Rhode Island’s Electric Leaf Blower Rebate Program relaunched late last month. Businesses, nonprofits, and public entities whose operations involve extensive use of leaf blowers are eligible to apply for the rebate. The General Assembly appropriated $250,000 of general revenue money to the Office of Energy Resources to implement and administer the program.

By boosting the adoption of electric lawn equipment, the state hopes to reduce air pollutants from the landscaping sector and improve public well-being.

Eligible applicants can receive $1,500 or 75% (whichever is less) of the cost of an electric leaf blower and related batteries. Eligible applicants in municipalities with the highest asthma rates — Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence, Westerly, and Woonsocket — can receive an additional $250. One in 10 Rhode Islanders has asthma.

While making the switch to electric-powered leaf blowers is a step to a healthier future, a better path exists. Do we really even need leaf blowers? Are leaves really that horrible? Are grass clippings that unsightly?

The fact we gather leaves into piles, with fossil fuel-powered leaf blowers or not, to haul away a natural mulch that helps suppress weeds while fertilizing the soil as it breaks down is foolish. The fact we burn the overwinter habitat of pollinators and wildlife is cruel. The fact we imprison the colors we briefly appreciate in the fall in opaque plastic bags is shameful.

Leave the leaves alone. Assault your lawn with a shovel instead, or let fallen oak leaves smother it. (Oak leaves can take up to 5 years to break down, blocking light and trapping moisture that can kill a lawn.)

Microorganisms are the key to soil health, but they need plenty of food and nutrients to do their job. The more leaves left on your lawn or in your garden, the more sustenance for those microorganisms to make your soil healthier and your plants stronger. Simply, as leaves decay (or are mulched by a mower), they add organic matter back into the soil, which reduces, or even halts, the need for fertilizer and other mass-marketed lawn-care concoctions.

Speaking of gardens, uproot your lawn and plant native flowers and shrubs. They appreciate leaves, attract pollinators, and liven up your surroundings.

As for burning fossil fuels or wasting electricity to blow grass clippings, and dust, around, a broom would work just as well. It’s also really quiet.

Frank Carini can be reached at frank@ecori.org. His opinions don’t reflect those of ecoRI News.