The leafblowers of springtime: Maplewood's vernal shame

drummerboy said:

Well, the business owner's problem becomes their clients' problem (increased cost). The clients are your neighbors. Argue with them. That's where the buck actually stops.

 Yes sir, mr. economy-over-environment. 
Who knew we had a closet Republican in our midst?


drummerboy said:

Like I said, I'm just finding a lot of the anti-blower arguments kind of goofy. (this latest tangent, where blowers were incapable of building piles, was especially funny)

Likewise, April piles may bring smiles.

I mean, because it’s funny to imagine them.


I imagine that the environmental issues may ultimately be used as means and leverage to get rid of the blowers for the main underlying issue which for most home listeners of course is the NOISE.

This really is a classic case of asking where do one homeowner's rights begin and another's end. Little different really than barking dogs, fences and peeling paint. All such things unpleasant in our fortresses of solitude which can be overcome in a world where often frustratingly little else can. 

I suppose it will be the ones who create the loudest argument to the Township Committee if they can be heard over the din of the leaf bloviating. 


steel said:

 if they can be heard over the din of the leaf bloviating. 

  oh oh


If anyone really cared about sustainability, they'd ban lawns. They're the real landscaping problem.


drummerboy said:

If anyone really cared about sustainability, they'd ban lawns. They're the real landscaping problem.

 Amen


drummerboy said:

If anyone really cared about sustainability, they'd ban lawns. They're the real landscaping problem.

I know you're joking, but the Green New Deal, which IIRC you have strongly supported in the politics threads, non-jokingly covers this. 

https://archive.curbed.com/2019/9/25/20880586/green-new-deal-home-design-benefits

"The Sanders plan also references a home feature that most of us don’t think of as ecologically harmful: our lawns. Lawns account for 40 million acres in the United States, and not only do they limit biodiversity by creating a monoculture of turf grass, they are also responsible for pesticide use that is harmful to pollinators and greenhouse gas emissions by means of lawn-care machines and fertilizer production. The Sanders Green New Deal proposes a solution in the form of subsidized initiatives for Americans across the rural/suburban/urban divide to cultivate victory gardens—gardens for food production or reforestation. Combining victory gardens with the implementation of long-time landscape architecture practices like xeriscaping would save innumerable gallons of water, not to mention prevent greenhouse gases and ecologically harmful pesticides from being released into the environment."

So apparently you don't support the GND after all. 


So don't cripple landscapers by banning leaf blowers, as you said, but banning lawns will keep landscapers in business how?


Smedley said:

So don't cripple landscapers by banning leaf blowers, as you said, but banning lawns will keep landscapers in business how?

Landscapers also design, plant and prune. True, there isn’t so much of that for my dad to do anymore at home, now that it’s been a decade or more since he replaced his suburban front lawn with other vegetation. But if his clients followed suit, there’d be work to get them started.


I'm sure there would be some work. But if I were a landscaper and I had to pick my poison of a leaf blower ban or a lawn ban...pretty sure I'd take the former.


Smedley said:

I'm sure there would be some work. But if I were a landscaper and I had to pick my poison of a leaf blower ban or a lawn ban...pretty sure I'd take the former.

If you ran a mowing and fertilizing service, no doubt. But if this is about landscaping — and maybe it isn’t — you might surprise yourself.

ETA: “Pick my poison.” Well played.


If lawns were replaced with plants other than grass, they would still require care.


Smedley said:

So don't cripple landscapers by banning leaf blowers, as you said, but banning lawns will keep landscapers in business how?

 


drummerboy said:

If lawns were replaced with plants other than grass, they would still require care.

One of the goals, though, is: As little as possible.


Again - can someone provide a list of landscapers who don't use leafblowers?  Or just one?  


jamie said:

Again - can someone provide a list of landscapers who don't use leafblowers?  Or just one?  

 Are you looking to hire one or just curious?

I've never heard of one, but I think planting this flag would be a great idea for some landscaper looking for a competitive advantage. I'm sure it takes longer to do a lawn sans blowers, and it would cost more, but surely some people would like the concept and be willing to pay an extra 10-20% or whatever. Gotta emphasize the point though -- call yourself NO LEAFBLOWER LANDSCAPING LLC and have your name in bold on all sides of your trucks. And t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats for the landscapers.  Just like a Prius in your driveway grants you some green cred (at least in the owner's mind), so would using these folks.

Whoever uses this idea owes me 2% of all revenues in perpetuity.  


Smedley said:

 Are you looking to hire one or just curious?

 I don't need one - just wanted to lay out options for anyone who does.  


Hi Jamie,

The Quiet Maplewood website (check it out) lists two all-electric yard service companies in Maplewood:

https://greenwheelslawn.com  "Earth friendly, zero emissions, quiet"

https://www.newgeneration-lawnservices.com  "Eco-friendly, quiet, odor-free, local"


jspjnc said:

Hi Jamie,

The Quiet Maplewood website (check it out) lists two all-electric yard service companies in Maplewood:

https://greenwheelslawn.com  "Earth friendly, zero emissions, quiet"

https://www.newgeneration-lawnservices.com  "Eco-friendly, quiet, odor-free, local"

 [applause]


Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.


drummerboy said:

https://newrepublic.com/article/162029/death-americas-manicured-lawns?utm_campaign=suboffer&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

 this might not be a bad idea.  TBH, I don't get the militant opposition to leaf blower noise, when gas-powered lawnmowers are just as bad IMHO.  Why is the noise of a lawnmower ok but a leaf blower isn't?

If we care about pollution of the noise, carbon, and chemical varieties, we should just get rid of lawns.  Not just get rid of one of the sources, and leave the others alone.


ml1 said:

drummerboy said:

https://newrepublic.com/article/162029/death-americas-manicured-lawns?utm_campaign=suboffer&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

 this might not be a bad idea.  TBH, I don't get the militant opposition to leaf blower noise, when gas-powered lawnmowers are just as bad IMHO.  Why is the noise of a lawnmower ok but a leaf blower isn't?

If we care about pollution of the noise, carbon, and chemical varieties, we should just get rid of lawns.  Not just get rid of one of the sources, and leave the others alone.

regarding noise, I'm not sure about lawnmowers and leaf blowers. I happened to be driving through Connecticut last weekend, and we had pulled off the highway for something, and were in a residential neighborhood. There was a guy with a leaf blower, maybe a hundred yards away, and it was deafening. I don't think lawnmowers are that loud.

OTOH, the lawnmowers my apartment's landscapers use are pretty damn loud.

re: lawns, the fertilizer runoff from lawns is a huge problem.


The answer is simple: Outlaw leafblowers, confiscate them wherever they are found, crush them into splinters with large, treaded vehicles and fire those splinters into the sun using environmentally sensitive rockets. 

Then, we will figure out how to rebuild our lives and our lawns. 

It will be the most difficult era for humanity so far. But somehow, some way, we will survive without leaf blowers. The human spirit is resilient.


Lawn care is going electric. And the revolution is here to stay. (WaPo)

Mountain Brook is also among the latest converts to America’s rapidly growing electric lawn care movement. Over the last year, the city has spent about $18,000 transitioning Harrison’s truck, along with the majority of maintenance of one of its parks, off gas.

“My hope is that in five years we can be 90 percent electric,” said Mayor Stewart Welch, the driving force behind the effort. “If we could get people to do this across the country, it could make a big difference.”

Experts say the shift is already well underway. “The transition to electric products is gaining momentum,” said John Wyatt, senior vice president of outdoor at manufacturer Stanley Black and Decker. The company estimates that the volume of electric-powered lawn equipment that North American manufacturers shipped jumped from about 9 million units in 2015 to over 16 million in 2020 — a leap of more than 75 percent in only five years. And during that time electric went from roughly 32 percent to 44 percent of the overall lawn equipment market.

PVW said:

Lawn care is going electric. And the revolution is here to stay. (WaPo)

Mountain Brook is also among the latest converts to America’s rapidly growing electric lawn care movement. Over the last year, the city has spent about $18,000 transitioning Harrison’s truck, along with the majority of maintenance of one of its parks, off gas.

“My hope is that in five years we can be 90 percent electric,” said Mayor Stewart Welch, the driving force behind the effort. “If we could get people to do this across the country, it could make a big difference.”

Experts say the shift is already well underway. “The transition to electric products is gaining momentum,” said John Wyatt, senior vice president of outdoor at manufacturer Stanley Black and Decker. The company estimates that the volume of electric-powered lawn equipment that North American manufacturers shipped jumped from about 9 million units in 2015 to over 16 million in 2020 — a leap of more than 75 percent in only five years. And during that time electric went from roughly 32 percent to 44 percent of the overall lawn equipment market.

 hmmmmmm

https://maplewood.worldwebs.com/forums/discussion/ah-the-leaf-blowers-of-spring?page=next&limit=0#discussion-replies-3542791


Smedley said:

jamie said:

Again - can someone provide a list of landscapers who don't use leafblowers?  Or just one?  

 Are you looking to hire one or just curious?

I've never heard of one, but I think planting this flag would be a great idea for some landscaper looking for a competitive advantage. I'm sure it takes longer to do a lawn sans blowers, and it would cost more, but surely some people would like the concept and be willing to pay an extra 10-20% or whatever. Gotta emphasize the point though -- call yourself NO LEAFBLOWER LANDSCAPING LLC and have your name in bold on all sides of your trucks. And t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats for the landscapers.  Just like a Prius in your driveway grants you some green cred (at least in the owner's mind), so would using these folks.

Whoever uses this idea owes me 2% of all revenues in perpetuity.  

 We DIY (at least so far ... we aren't getting any younger) because we hated the noisy and often needless job being done every week whether needed or not (practically always not) and, frankly, the somewhat slipshod job that was often the result.  And I HATE seeing the landscape workers using those powerful and noisy blowers to blow grass clippings here and there for much longer than it should take to do that job.   We have a grass-catcher on our mower which ends up leaving some clippings in the lawn (as recommended for best lawn health) while most of the clippings go into a compost bin at the rear of our yard that gives us rich mulch at intervals.  In the fall we usually blow (electric blower) and rake the leaves only twice curing the season - once about half-way through and once just before the final scheduled town leaf pickup.  I would be happy to pay for this type of service at the same price per month but it doesn't seem that there are any landscapers who come only as needed (either based on a schedule that varies with the season) or upon request of the customer and use a grass catcher or mulching mower rather than blowing grass clippings.


drummerboy said:

try these folks

https://greenwheelslawn.com/services

 Thanks!  That does sound promising.


sac said:

drummerboy said:

try these folks

https://greenwheelslawn.com/services

 Thanks!  That does sound promising.

 yeah, I'm thinking that they appear to be a start-up, so they're more likely to take on ad-hoc business.


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