According to GRIST: “Across the United States, some 11 million leaf blowers roar into action every year, obliterating delicate debris with 200-mile-per-hour winds.” Grist is an American non-profit online magazine headquartered in Seattle. Grist was founded in 1999 and publishes environmental news and commentary.
“Outright bans on the gas-powered machines have recently taken effect in Washington, D.C.; Miami Beach, Florida; and Evanston, Illinois. California will end the sale of gas-powered blowers next summer. Their hum will also be silenced in Portland and Seattle in the coming years. Barring a sudden acceptance of lawns scattered with leaves, rakes and battery-powered devices will slowly replace them.”
And it is not just the noise that is polluting: “A study in 2015 found that lawn mowers, trimmers, leaf blowers, and other lawn equipment accounted for a quarter of all emissions of cancer-causing benzene in 2011. They also accounted for 17 percent of volatile organic compounds and 12 percent of nitrogen oxides, the primary pollutants of smog, and were responsible for 20 million tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions — about 4 percent of what passenger cars emitted in 2011.”
You can read the entire article as published by GRIST by following the LINK
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