

Because their two-stroke engines are so inefficient, more than 30 percent of that mixture is released unburnt as aerosol. “Gas-powered leaf blowers (GLBs) are amazingly polluting-much more polluting than most late-model cars. But their impact on the environment isn’t exactly healthy, either. Both problems are compelling.”įor those who live and work in the communities where gas-powered leaf blowing frequently happens, activists are trying to ban their existence, or at least limit their use, on account of their noise. But that’s partly because most people don’t have any idea how incredibly polluting the two-stroke engine leaf blowers are until they start researching the issue. “It’s what got most of them to become activists for the first time in their lives.

“Noise is the problem that really drives our members crazy,” says Mike Christensen, spokesman for Quiet Clean NOVA, a grassroots citizens organization in Northern Virginia whose goal is to ban or restrict the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. In densely settled communities, most people are usually much closer to leaf blowers than 50 feet. People complain about the noise, which can cause permanent hearing damage or other hearing issues such as tinnitus after just 2 hours of hearing a blower’s 65 to 80 decibels at 50 feet away. Gas-powered leaf blowers have long been considered a nuisance of neighbors around the country. Photo: The Problems with Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers
