Guest Editorial
Leaf blowers were the talk of the town from the east to the west of Sonoma County this week, especially around Sebastopol and Sonoma. At the Tuesday Sebastopol City Council meeting a new noise ordinance passed on a 4-1 vote. It restricts all loud noise, including leaf blowers.
At Wednesday’s Sonoma City Council meeting a blower ban was on the agenda, which is prior to press time so results of the meeting will appear on The Sun’s website.
On Monday nearly half the front page, above the middle fold, of Santa Rosa’s daily newspaper was an article headlined “Clamor over Leaf Blowers” with a large photo showing a landscaper polluting the air with deadly toxins kicked up by what some call a gas-guzzling debris blower.
The photo documents the goggles, earmuffs, hat, clothing and other protective gear worn by the at-risk operator. Innocent bystanders are seldom equipped with such protection. They suffer negative health consequences while trying to relax in their homes or stroll peacefully without the penetrating, piercing siren of blowers.
“During the countless hours I’ve spent at city parks with my four children,” Lisa Summers recently wrote to Sonoma’s council, “nothing in my mind stands out as a more constant and insidious disruption to the quality of life in the valley than the ever-increasing use of leaf blowers.”
“In light of the ongoing BP oil spill,” Summers added, “I ask you to take a hard look at the frivolous use of gas-powered tools where safe, quiet and environmentally friendly alternatives exist.” She apparently had brooms and rakes in mind.
Sebastopol Vice Mayor Guy Wilson suggested a blower ban to the Council, at the request of residents, in November of 2009; it is currently being researched. “Sebastopol should ask itself why we allow these blowers in the first place,” Wilson recently commented. “What reasonable purpose do they serve? It’s like a bad habit that has gone on and on. We need to look at their use in a critical way.”
Various Marin County cities already ban blowers, as do dozens of California cities and many U.S. cities, both large and small.
“Leaf blowers erode top soil,” Summers commented recently. “They de-hydrate the soil and blow away the protective covering of leaves, exposing plants to pathogens. They are like a tornado blast that injures plants.” Summers also expressed concerns about “the long-term risk of exposure to noise and airborne contaminants by the workers who use them.”
“Noise pollution has a serious impact on health,” contended Georgia Kelly of Sonoma’s Praxis Peace Institute. “Stress, hypertension, hearing loss and heart attacks can be associated with high noise levels. For people who work at home and retired residents, neighborhood noise pollution is especially disturbing.”
A No Blow coalition had its first meeting in Orinda, Contra Costa County, on June 26, at the invitation of the group Quiet Orinda. Over a dozen persons heard reports from Zero Air Pollution, which successfully persuaded the City of Los Angeles to ban them in l997. A health scientist with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District also presented, followed by a physician. They both spoke about the deadly health consequences of kicking up particulate matter, especially to vulnerable children. Reports on that meeting are available by an Internet search of No Blow.
The early days of the campaign against second-hand cigarette smoke came to mind. Though this idea was originally dismissed, laws eventually were passed against such deadly smoke. No one has the right to blow hazardous smoke into our faces, or hazardous toxins into our common air and our ears. People have the right to make a fist, but they do not have the right to put it in someone’s face.
Dr. Shepherd Bliss, Lecturer, Humanities
Sonoma State University,
