The Dry Garden: Blown away
Posted on | July 1, 2011 | 7 Comments
Two men, 180 decibels, maybe three rake-fulls of leaves.
What would you do if a neighbor came to you and asked, “For 20 minutes every week, may I turn on your vacuum cleaner, smoke detector and garbage disposal and run them all at once?”
Holding that thought, consider if the neighbor added, “Ah, may I also blow noxious dust your way for those same 20 minutes?”
Imagine that not just one neighbor on the street asked it, but eight. Imagine that each one just wanted their 20 minutes to blare noise and blow dust. It would be sometime between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. Add up the minutes and they would equal about six straight days of noise a year. The dust would stay suspended longer, an element of smog.
Given the choice, most people would say “no” in terms unrepeatable here, so most Angelenos don’t ask for permission. They just blast noise and blow dust at their neighbors. They call it gardening.
Click here to keep reading about, you guessed it, leaf blowers, in this week’s Dry Garden in the Los Angeles Times.
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7 Responses to “The Dry Garden: Blown away”
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North American Native Plant Societies
After the lawn
Garden blogs
July 2nd, 2011 @ 3:58 am
I share your views. Let me share the anger.
There is nothing more irritating than those high
pitch noises from blower, trimmers, lawnmowers and power tools.
Unfortunately, everyjuan feels entitled to use
them when they feel like, without any consideration to the rest of the world surrounding them fools.
July 5th, 2011 @ 4:53 am
I share the anger and frustration. Check this website for landscaping company that also teaches green techniques. FYI, I’m not connected to this company in any way. http://www.nativegreengardening.com/pages/GGSolution.html
July 5th, 2011 @ 9:59 am
I don’t know whose racism you reference here. To me, it’s not a racial issue. There’s a law and a need to follow that law. You will find, if you check, that the organizers of the demonstrations are among the worst impacted of dust and deafness from these machines, and that they enjoyed the backing of power tool companies.
July 5th, 2011 @ 11:54 pm
Emily, I enjoyed your article. The racism I detected is in the comment from “antigonum cajun” as evidenced by use of the term “everyjuan.” I apologize for any misunderstanding from my initial comment. Thank you for pointing out the political backing taking place by the power tool companies. To my mind, the laws are inadequate – the workers as well as the neighborhoods where they work require more protection from the noise, dust and fossil fuel pollution. Thank you for staying on top of this issue.
July 6th, 2011 @ 12:50 pm
Ah, how silly of me to have missed that. The blogger who left the post is, I think, Puerto Rican, so I let it fly without a blink. Here’s a link to his site, which is brimming with ideas, opinions and (to me) just the right soupcon of playful nonsense for a personal blog.
http://antigonumcajaneveningpost.blogspot.com/
July 8th, 2011 @ 3:48 pm
Who is Emily Green Bean? Where is her trajectory? Why not stick to the subject?
Who is asking her opinion, except on this
issue? Where is the address of her blog?
July 8th, 2011 @ 4:56 pm
This is too wacky for me. Over and out.