Clean and Quiet Yard Care

A Better Way to Care For Your Yard

1 hour gas mower usage equals driving 300 miles
1 hour gas leaf blower use equals driving 1,100 miles
Gas leaf blowers are inordinately large emitters of CO, NOx, HC and PM, therefore contributing to greenhouse gases and climate change
A 2011 test by car experts at Edmonds showed that consumer-grade gas leaf blowers emit more pollutants than a 6,200 pound 2011 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
By 2020, ozone-contributing pollutants from small off-road engines (inc. gas yard equipment) will exceed those from cars
Gardeners who operate gas yard equipment are exposed to carcinogenic exhaust fumes daily from direct release of tailpipe emissions

Noise from gas equipment is harmful to hearing…

Gas-powered mowers and blowers range from 80-100+ decibels; a jet take off is 100 decibels
Gas blowers measuring 70-75 decibels at 50 feet can reach 90-100 decibels at the operator’s ear and to those nearby
Exposure to 80-92 decibels for two hours can cause hearing damage
Gas leaf blowers are damaging to plants…
Leaf blowers operate at 170 MPH – hurricane force winds – disruptive to plants and biota
Blowers erode beneficial mulch and bark around trees and landscaping and stir up allergens, mold and dust contributing to allergies

Clean & Quiet Yard Care News

Neighbors get creative with electric lawn care

The campaign to make Curtis Park residents aware of harmful pollutants spewing from gas mowers and leaf blowers has people listening. Increasingly, neighbors are finding

Kathy Les October 26, 2019

Paul Durbrow rakes

When the Neighborhood Concerns Committee of SCNA was in the park one dark, cold morning, a gentleman walked up and volunteered to rake leaves –

Bruce Pierini June 19, 2019

Neighbors seek cleaner, quieter yard-care tools

Are you sick and tired of the whining noise of gas-powered leaf blowers? Not only do they emit noxious contaminants in clouds of dust, evidence

Bruce Pierini June 3, 2019

A Better Way: Electric Yard Care Equipment

No on-site point-of-use pollution; electric generated at power plants equipped with scrubbers to filter out pollutants
Noise is considerably less; measured in Curtis Park at 55 decibels
Electric equipment is much improved, new high tech batteries are used rather than plug-in cords.

The City of Sacramento Noise Ordinance specifies that:

Gas-powered leaf blowers may only operate from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday thru Saturday and 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Sundays
Noises levels may not exceed 65 decibels at a distance of 50 feet; most gas powered equipment exceeds this level but there is no current enforcement

Interested in Clean & Quiet Yard Care? Here’s what you can do:

Ask your yard care provider to use electric equipment
Find an existing provider that works with electric yard care equipment
Purchase your own electric equipment for your provider or yourself to use
Pool $ resources with your neighbors for joint use electric equipment by you or your providers
Ask your provider to use a manual mower and rake by hand (studies show no significant difference in time efficiency)
Let your yard care provider know that gas-powered equipment is harmful to their health (both hearing and lungs)
Add your name to our list of concerned Curtis Park neighbors – join our email list –>

Local Resources

Quiet Communities
American Green Zone Alliance
Get Off My Lawn, How a small group of activists (our correspondent among them) got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital By James Fallows in The Atlantic
Neighbor Kim Alexander’s Facebook post on the decibel sound difference between a gas-powered and an electric blower in Curtis Park. The decibel scale is logarithmic, therefore a small difference in decibels can mean a much larger difference in noise levels.
Contact SCNA Neighborhood Concerns Committee members Bruce Pierini, John Mathews, Dan Pskowski, or Kathy Les.

Statewide Advocacy Resources

California Air Resources Board webpage on Zero-Emission Landscaping Equipment
Fact sheet on small engine emissions, including gas-powered lawn equipment
Summary report CARB issued on health effects suffered by operators of gas-powered lawn equipment

Para continuar con el contacto con paisajistas de habla hispana, comuníquese con Nury Enciso (nuryenciso@gmail.com)

Sources: California Air Resources Board; Noise Free America; Washington Post 9/16/13; Earth911.com; Michael Benjamin, CARB via NPR 2/28/17; Hal Thomas phone noise meter; City of Sac Noise Ordinance for Lawn Equipment; Citizens For A Quieter Sacramento