To the editor:

It has been a cool and clear morning, and my wife and I have devoted much of it to raking up the leaves in the back yard from our beloved silver maple. The tree gives us shade, serves as a superhighway for squirrels and home for birds, and its massive presence reminds us that we are held in the arms of nature.

We were fortunate to grow up in an era when we learned to operate rakes. In those times we simply burned the dead leaves on the side of the street, and as children we thoroughly enjoyed the sight and smell of burning leaves. Eventually society realized that the smoke and soot from thousands of fires was polluting the air and aggravating the problems of people with lung disease, so we stopped burning leaves.

Now the soft scratch of the rake is being replaced by the scream and howl of leaf blowers and lawn vacuums. Noise and benefits of exercise aside, it seems we have found yet another way to contaminate the air. These machines are run by electricity from a local generating plant or by gasoline made from increasingly expensive Middle Eastern oil. Do yourself, your neighbors and the Earth a favor and just say “no” to unnecessary energy use. Change has to come, and it has to start with us.

Joe Douglas,

Lawrence