If I had to select the most annoying aspect of modern society, I would have hundreds from which to choose: people who talk loudly on their cell phones; far too many commercials on television, including those that are flashed on while you are watching a show; the idea that anything that brings in profit must be quality; the sad truth that just about everything is made in China; and anything that Republicans do. But there is one thing that annoys me on a regular basis more than any of these other lesser vexations: leafblowers. There is no present-day, so-called useful invention as diabolical as the gas-powered leafblower. These two-cylinder machines from hell have engines that are primitive, cheap and harmful to the environment. Each one releases 100% of its emissions into the environment and in one hour emits as many hydrocarbons and other pollutants as a car driving at 55 mph for 110 miles. And while it poisons the air, it emits high frequency sounds with decibel levels that exceed acceptable, yet unregulated, standards: The incessant drone of a single leaf blower can be heard blocks away. And why do we even have these useless tormentors? So that lawn care and maintenance workers can blow the leaves from a customer's yard or office complex into the street or onto to property of someone else. Basically leafblowers don't actually do anything except make noise; strip topsoil; destroy roots; fill the air with contaminants, mold, fungal spores, insect eggs, pollen and whatever toxic chemicals have been sprayed on the lawns; create ill will among neighbors; and make life easier for lawn care companies whose employees are too damned lazy to pick up a rake or broom. Happily for some lucky Americans, gasoline-driven leafblowers have been banned in many counties across the U.S. and Canada and in such major cities as Los Angeles. (Why couldn't that have been the case when I lived there?) Unfortunately no such intelligent ban has been issued in Miami, so I have to hear the maddening drone of these damned machines on a daily basis. I do have one consolation in regard to leafblowers. I noticed that most of those using these machines do not wear earphones, ear plugs, or face masks, so I get some satisfaction out of knowing that my torturers will all be deaf within a few years and breathing on a hospital respirator. I hope it's noisy.
Note: While most of the crankiness of this post is mine, many of the facts for this were gleaned from an article written by Winifred Rosen, Guest Commentator in DrWeil.com News
Marlene Herrera went to India and came back with pictures of women on their knees picking blades of grass out of the ground. I was on the phone with a tech support person in India and they confirmed for me that this is indeed a viable job in India and there is demand for people to pick blades of grass with their hands. This has no relevance to your article except that I had images of Indian peasants in your yard picking up leaves by hand....IN other news, as someone who grew up in PA, I am often oblivious to leaf accumulation in Miami because to me, leaves are not a major issue. Up north, you can have so many leaves in the Fall that your grass will die because of coverage or your gutters will be blocked. Here in Miami where appearance is so important, it suddenly occurred to me that I was the only one on the block that wasn't raking up the tiny leaves in his yard, which to me were a picturesque sprinkling of dead foliage, but to my neighbors must have appeared to be quite the disheveled yard. I quickly raked my picturesque leaves up. I think that South Florida, a region without a leaf problem is much more obsessed with leaves than Northern states.
ReplyDeleteThe above comment was posted by Jeff Stoffa!
ReplyDeleteYou're right. And obsessed is the word. One of my trees has dropped lots of leaves, which I am quite happy to let sit on the lawn. One because I am not obsessed with a lawn and two, it reminds me of being back up north.
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