Never did I think I would feel so impassioned about a mechanical gardening device. For me, the answer to the above question is simple: Hindrance! From trying to rest and recover from COVID, to trying to enjoy a lie-in (they were blowing away at 7:30am) to just trying to enjoy down time at the beach or on my sofa, it seems my peace is always unquestionably disturbed by our friendly neighbourhood leaf blower(s).
Most of the time it feels like the leaves are being shifted from one area to another just for the wind to blow and us be back to square one. The fact that leaf blowers are in my complex all day suggests they aren’t even an efficient implement of choice for solving the problem.
So, having subsequently completed a quick Google search on the matter, it seems that not only should we be concerned about the noise pollution but also about the chemical pollution caused by these objects! Several articles suggest that they are dirtier and less fuel-efficient than the average modern car, whilst the fumes omitted from them include toxic pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and hydrocarbons.
Whilst the leaf blowers produce harmful toxins for us and the animal community alike, they also remove leaves which can be helpful to the sustainability of the insect community. I appreciate it is hot and manual labour is challenging with the Caribbean sun beating on our backs; but surely a good old-fashioned rake powered by elbow grease is a simple solution for areas where the leaves do need to be tidied and collected.
In a time when we should and, hopefully, are thinking of ways to help sustain and repair the damage done to our environment by humans, this ‘simple’ measure to ban such objects feels like a no-brainer!
Beth Lowen
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