To the Editor:

While we are busy making America great again, I wonder if we could make it a little quieter also. I remember when summer sounds were more you call organic–birds, cicadas and other insects, children playing, the ice cream truck.

Now what do we have? Leaf blowers! Doing what? Blowing leaves, you say? Nope. Blowing blades of grass and small bits of dirt off driveways, sidewalks, gutters so we can maintain a rather fussy sense of neatness..

Most leaf blowers use a two-cycle gasoline fueled engine that is both horrendously loud and environmentally dirty. Two-stroke engines are much less efficient in combustion than four-stroke engines (which are standard in cars). In addition to residues of unburned gasoline and oil, they release large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. A single two-cycle engine produces pollutants equivalent to 30 – 50 4-cycle engines.

Many cities and other jurisdictions restrict leaf blower use to a limited time in the fall when there actually are leaves on the ground. Battery powered leaf blowers would be a big improvement. They are much less noisy and polluting even when using carbon based electricity. I see a lot of battery powered lawn mowers in yards and in stores but not that many leaf blowers as yet. In the relatively near future the effects of climate change will be significantly worse. Do you think leaf blowers will be tolerated then? Could we manage a little sacrifice now to help make a better future?

Joe Douglas,

Lawrence