11 Comments

Fantastic, and kudos to all who helped pass the ban and implement the transition to electric blowers. Let's not forget that leaf blowers are typically unnecessary and often counter-productive. As Margaret Renkl in the NYT so eloquently states: "Fallen leaves provide protection for overwintering insects and the egg sacs of others. Leaf blowers, whether electric or gasoline-powered, dislodge the leaf litter that is so essential to insect life — the insect life that in turn is so essential to birds and other wildlife."

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Jan 20, 2022Liked by James Fallows

After seeing you on the canal last weekend, I briefed my son on the role you played in this effort, which warmed his heart. Thank you!

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Small world!

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Jan 20, 2022Liked by James Fallows

I just emailed this to my coop list serve, in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill. We have 1,100 apartments.

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Terrific! I just emailed this to my neighborhood listserve.

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Thank you. The Quiet Communities org, in greater Boston, has of course been a pioneer in this issue. https://quietcommunities.org/

I do think that the pace of change is about to speed up. The accelerating wave of battery-powered cars, aircraft, etc etc will rapidly increase the battery alternatives, and reduce their price. It will also drive the market for battery equipment; and the accumulating evidence on public health/pollution fronts will make it impossible for people to dismiss this as a minor issue. Good luck!

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Quiet Communities is active in my town, Lexington. I didn't realize they were all over greater Boston.

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They provided *crucial* testimony for us, in the DC City Council deliberations. (Mainly about the measurable, for-real difference in the *sound quality* of low-frequency noise, from gas-powered blowers, and the high-frequency buzz of the battery powered ones. Crucial difference is that high-freq noise doesn't penetrate walls, windows, etc. Low-freq does.) And they have been active as a national clearing-house and info-source.

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good to know. I just donated.

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Worth waiting for! I have begun sharing this galvanizing post with local pols and neighborhood leaders to see whether we might create action comparable to WDC's in order to support implementation of Sacramento's recent city ordinance to phase out gas-powered leaf blowers. Many thanks for the good information and action-motivation!

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Thank you! And feel free to use the argument in Sacramento: The capital of the entire nation has taken this step. So how about the capital of the nation's most populous and most creative state?

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