The bill passed City Council and was signed by the mayor of Washington DC last year. It takes effect in 2022. Reasons for the ban were that gas-powered leaf blowers violated the noise ordinance already in effect, and their engines are very polluting of the air, thus they are a double hazard, particularly for the people using them, while battery-powered leaf blowers are already available which don’t have either of these problems. Such bans had already been enacted in over 100 cities.
(The DC ban will not affect federal lands, which will continue use chemical weapons, noise grenades, and military police either mounted on horses or on foot with batons. No wait, that’s how they mow down peaceful people. But DC has limited self-rule and cannot control the feds, whose general policy of late is to pollute.) Excess noise affects wildlife, and it also adds stress to people and affects our enjoyment of wildlife. As someone who values the hearing I still have and my ability to hear, identify, and enjoy birds, I would love it if all the lawn-care devices were as clean, quiet, and effective as my meticulous 80-something-year-old next door neighbor and the rake she uses. Leaf blowers always struck me as an offensively absurd waste of energy in addition to the noise and air pollution, just one of many examples of completely unnecessary environmental destruction which affects the climate and birds along with many other negative consequences. Better yet, let the leaves return to the soil in place wherever you can. When I am on the first mile of the Black Diamond Trail I am often bothered by the lawn mowers at Cass Park. This past May 19 at 9:50am I was very surprised and fortunate to hear and then see a singing Swainson’s Thrush a few feet away from the Black Diamond Trail above the Hangar Theatre. I could easily have missed it (perhaps I did miss others) because there was a big active Cass Park mower making lots of noise at the time. Without the noise pollution I could have heard and enjoyed the Thrush more easily and from farther away, and non-birders on the trail might have noticed it as well and gotten just a taste of the beauty that is still out there. Rather than use our tax dollars to pay someone to pollute Cass Park while mowing it, I would rather that a part of sports team workouts included using manual reel mowers to maintain the playing fields. It seems to me that the amount of lawn one owns should not exceed the amount one is willing to personally supply the energy and time to cut. For people who feel compelled to mow lawns but lack that strength, electric lawnmowers, like electric leaf-blowers and electric weed-whackers, are much quieter and less stinky than gasoline powered. - - Dave Nutter > On Jun 14, 2020, at 5:37 PM, Regi Teasley <rltcay...@gmail.com> wrote: > > This concerns the use of gas-powered leaf blowers and their impact on birds. > Comments please. > > https://anshome.org/2018/08/ans-testimony-on-wildlife-harming-noise/ > > Regi > Ithaca > ____________ > Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone > or weary of life. Rachel Carson. > > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
