Hey Mr. Green,
Our condominium association hires a landscaper who uses leaf blowers to clean up leaves and grass clippings. This seems like a waste of fuel to me, and besides that, they're noisy. All the professional landscapers around here seem to use them. Is this a big deal, and, if so, is there any alternative? --Geoffrey in Northbrook, Illinois
Hallelujah! I've been waiting for so very long for this provocative question. Few sights are more ludicrous than a large, healthy guy blasting away at a handful of dead leaves with one of these noisy, air-polluting monsters when a broom would accomplish the same thing with less effort and energy. But maybe brooms are too girlie man, whereas the big, bazooka-size business end of a blower makes a resounding macho statement. (See “How ’Bout Honda?” for more theories on gender and mechanical devices.) Blowers with two-cycle engines are particularly obnoxious. InCalifornia alone, the gas-powered models were found to emit 7.1 tons of hydrocarbons and 16.6 tons of carbon monoxide per day, according to a California Air Resources Board report.
OK, if these arguments don't convince your landscaper, dare to suggest a, um, leaf sucker. It vacuums debris into a bag, at least enabling safe deposition onto a compost heap. Black & Decker, for example, has one called the Leaf Hog, giving it enough of a macho ring to counteract any sissy stigma.