Gas leaf blowers are noisy, polluting and harmful to our health. But are bans the best way to go?

Mark Nevitt describes the view on his walk or bike ride to work in Atlanta, Georgia, as “stunningly beautiful” thanks to the city’s lush tree canopy.

But when fall arrives, not only do the trees shed their leaves, but there’s also a seasonal change that the Emory University environmental law professor says he’d rather do without.

“My lovely bike ride to Emory’s campus was very interrupted and made very unpleasant by gas-powered leaf blowers,” Nevitt said in an interview with What the hell. “That’s what led me down this rabbit hole of looking into them harms the climate.”

The regular gas-powered leaf blower has a two-stroke engine, Nevitt says. That’s what it means causes more greenhouse gas emissions than the biggest pickup you can buy.

Nevitt said he was furious when a The bill was passed in the Georgia Senate Last year, the state’s cities and counties moved to ban gas-powered leaf blowers.

“We see a strong lobby of landscape companies opposing this,” says Nevitt. “(They) make quite a few claims about the transition costs… when you switch from gas to electricity.”

In Canada there is a similar discussion about banning two-stroke gas-powered blowers. In VancouverIn 2004, the West End became the first neighborhood in Canada to ban them. It was last October Westmount in Montreal also banned the stoners. And Toronto proposed allocating $305,000 in the 2024 budget for a possible ban on gas-powered lawn equipment.

However, in cities like Calgary, that is the case ban is still in the proposal phase. A community group called Project Calgary launched a petition that had more than 2,800 signatures toward its goal of 3,000 at the time this article was published.

With the exception of yard work, Nevitt says almost all other uses of two-stroke gas engines, including in cars, have been phased out.

Impact on environment and health

Joe Vipond, an emergency room doctor in Calgary and former president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, says leaf blowers pose problems for both the environment and health.

“The things that come out of the exhaust of a leaf blower are a combination of the products of combustion, like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter 2.5, the real bad pollutant that people know about.”

“If you use it for an hour, the amount of smog-forming air pollution is comparable Driving 1,750 kilometers in a sedan” he said, citing data from the California Air Resources Board.

This pollution also has a direct effect on well-being.

“PM2.5 in particular has a direct relationship with mortality,” says Vipond. “The more you are exposed to it on an annual basis, the higher the mortality rate.”

A study by Environment America, US PIRG and Frontier Group said in 2023 that PM2.5 pollution leads to millions of premature deaths worldwide every year, as well as health problems such as cancer, mental health and reproductive problems.

Both Vipond and Nevitt also say that the regulation of these devices is a matter of equality and social justice.

“The people most exposed to the pollutants and noise of these machines are the people who work with them every day,” says Vipond. ‘And these are generally low-income people who are least able to avoid these risks.

The noise produced by gas-powered leaf blowers causes enormous damage, Nevitt says, likening the experience to “standing next to a jet engine at your local international airport.”

“Just exposure to it can cause permanent hearing loss,” he said.

‘There is a good alternative’

When it comes to climate work, people often resist change unless a viable alternative is available, Vipond says. But now that effective electric leaf blowers are available – both plug-in and battery-powered, “there’s really no reason to have gas-powered leaf blowers.”

Sheldon Ridout is the owner of The Silent Gardener, an all-electric landscaping company based in BC.

“We’ve been around for about 24 years. When we first started, we didn’t use power tools at all. It used to be rakes and brooms,” says Ridout. “Unfortunately… on larger sites that becomes a lot more difficult.”

About a decade ago, Ridout began using lithium battery equipment, and all of the company’s tools are now powered by lithium batteries.

“All those little myths about ‘oh, I should have this many batteries and they only last fifteen minutes, and they’re not powerful’… are all problems from ten years ago,” says Ridout.

Ridout says he sees significant improvements in battery technology every year: longer runtimes, greater efficiency and even waterproof properties in commercial equipment.

“Technology is changing every day. The excuses that were there don’t really exist. All they have is a lack of vision.”

Ridout is even against municipalities banning gas blowers.

“It’s more of a carrot and stick thing. If you bother someone to do something, you’re going to get a lot more resentment,” Ridout said.

Instead, Ridout says that to bring about change, residents must advocate for it as consumers.

“It should be more of a choice for residents to choose companies that do it the way they want.”

“You have to have the people doing the hiring – property management groups, purchasing groups… to get companies like mine in there so that other companies say, ‘Wait, I’m losing business to this guy because he’s using battery-powered equipment.’”

“That’s your fastest change.”