Gas-Free Gardens
Our Free E-Leaf Blower Program
was a Huge Success!
50+ Palisades gardeners ditched their loud, toxic gas leaf blowers and got a Free E-Leaf Blower through Resilient Palisades. Additionally, many homeowners bought equipment on their own and some gardeners went solo through the CA program we promoted.
This is really adding up. Palisades gardeners tell us they serve between 25-50, so we estimate 1,500 homes are no longer choking with gas fumes and suffering from deafening noise. Plus, these numbers and the new laws banning sales of new gas blowers is putting pressure on hold-out gas guzzling gardeners to go electric too.
If your gardener is still using a gas blower, there’s never been a better time to demand they stop.
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To all those who donated to our campaign, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We couldn’t have done it without you.
Gas-Free Gardens FAQ
What is Gas-Free?
Gas-free is the new and evolved way of maintaining your property, responsibly: Using a combo of electric and manual tools instead of highly-polluting and outdated gas technology.
Why go Gas-Free?
Don’t let their ubiquity fool you. Every hour of gas-powered equipment (leaf blowers, lawn mowers, hedge and string trimmers, etc.,) is exposing you, your family, and your gardeners to extreme levels of carcinogens, particulate matter, ozone, and heavy metals. Not to mention, releasing high levels of climate-changing gases that are far more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. Other communities have gone gas-free. Why can’t we?
Aren’t gas-powered leaf blowers illegal in Los Angeles?
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Gas leaf blowers are illegal within 500ft of a residence, but there’s very little enforcement. (Also, enforcement only works with public outreach.) So it’s up to each homeowner, building manager, and institution to start the dialogue with their gardeners about changing from gas to a combination of electric and manual equipment.
Why not wait until California's 2024 ban on sale of all gas gardening equipment?
Given their extreme pollution levels and archaic technology, California is the first state to have banned the sale of all gas-powered gardening equipment – starting in 2024, or when the CA Air Resources Board (CARB) deems it feasible.
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But don’t wait until 2024. This historic law demonstrates just how harmful this equipment is to both the operators and residents. Every hour your gardener uses gas equipment is another hour of excessive carcinogens and heavy metals dumped in your backyard. Not to mention the smog and climate-changing emissions. Plus, the law only bans the sale of gas equipment. It will not make it illegal to use them. And some gardeners are saying they will reuse and repurpose their old equipment until their employers (you!) ask for a change.
In California and across our nation, communities are ditching the gas for a cleaner, safer, and quieter way of landscape maintenance:
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The health impact
Exhaust
These two and four-stroke engines are spewing heavy metals and carcinogens that linger at ground level. So as we walk, jog, play, or even sit inside our homes, these highly unfiltered and dirty compounds are landing all around us.
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A 2012 EPA report concluded the well-known adverse health effects of this equipment:
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Benzene, 1,3 butadeine, and formaldehyde are top-ranking cancerous compounds, linked to lymphomas and leukemia.
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Gas powered gardening equipment release 25% (or more) of the total formaldehyde and benzene in the United States.
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Ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) “cause or contribute to dementia, early death, heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancer.” (Pg 12, EPA study).
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The vibrating and low frequency of gas-powered equipment causes the noise to travel farther (a few city blocks) and pass barriers, including building walls (Pollock et al., 2018; Pasanen et al., 2004).
On Mondays, one of the highest gardener-activity days, the air quality index dips across the Palisades. Here’s a real-time look at air quality and particulate matter (PM) from monitoring stations around the Palisades: https://bit.ly/38fiUMM
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As with any pollutants, impacts are most severe for children, the elderly, those with compromised immune systems, and pets.
Noise
A Harvard University study warns that gas-gardening equipment noise has adverse health impacts not just on the user, but also on surrounding communities. The low vibration noise travels several city blocks and penetrates building walls. Studies warn that regular exposure to the >80-decibels (at 50 feet) increases chances of heart disease, diabetes, sleep disruption, obesity, and even dementia. (Walker and Banks, 2017). There’s also increasing evidence that seniors with hearing loss are significantly more likely to develop dementia over time than those who retain their hearing.
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E-equipment, on the other hand, produces higher frequencies that travel shorter distances and are <50-decibels at 50ft; the absence of vibration also makes them unable to pass building barriers.
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“Internal combustion power tools and leaf blowers (“equipment”) pose multiple hazards to human health. Children are the most susceptible members of our population to these hazards because they breathe more air per pound of body weight per day than adults and thus inhale more of any pollutants that are thrown into the air by this equipment. Children’s vulnerability to the health effects of this equipment is further magnified by the fact that they are passing through the stages of early development, and thus their lungs, ears, eyes, and other organ systems are inherently more sensitive to environmental hazards than the organs of adults.” (Sheffield, Perry, MD, et al., 2010)
The environmental impact
This outdated gas equipment has harmful impacts that are too high to ignore.
Hundreds of communities across the USA have ditched the gas…
shouldn’t Pacific Palisades?
Gas-powered gardening equipment is egregiously polluting our air, water, and even our soil. These two- and four-stroke engines emit high levels of hydrocarbons from burned and unburned fuel including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and reactive organic gases. They’re directly linked to deaths and cancer, yet we continue to welcome them into our backyards and community.
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Global Warming
Nitrogen oxide is a harmful greenhouse gas that traps 300x more heat than carbon dioxide (Chrobak, 2021). By using fossil fuels to mow, blow, and trim our gardens, we are releasing more emissions than our gardens can absorb.
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Smog
When in contact with sunlight, these compounds create smog: In California, gas gardening equipment and other small off-road gas equipment are now the dominant source of smog – more than ALL of the passenger vehicles on the road (EPA, 2021).
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These go on to form low-level ozone, which causes the brown smog we often see blanketing Los Angeles. And nitrogen oxides contribute to acid rain. Thanks to evaporation, leaf blowers even pollute while they’re not in use. (TerraNova; EPA, 2015)
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Soil & Water Pollution
The refueling of this equipment also results in gas (and oil) spills that turn into ozone in the summer, and end up in our groundwater and the Santa Monica Bay all year long.
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“I read…over 17 million gallons of gas are spilled each year refueling lawn and garden equipment – more petroleum than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez.” (EPA Senior Policy Analyst David Piantanida, 2008)
A Doctor's Perspective
Easy Solutions
We all know that leaf blowers, especially the gas-powered variety, are obnoxiously loud, utterly stinky, and irritating to the eyes. Much more important than those nuisances, gas-powered leaf blowers and other gardening equipment are harmful to our health, both in the short and long term.
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The fumes this equipment emits have been linked to human health harms such as an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, asthma, cancer, miscarriage, birth defects, and premature birth. Gas-powered lawn equipment contributes significantly to air pollution and climate change.
Blowers aerosolize and spread infectious organisms and toxins – think animal feces, fungal spores, viruses, and chemicals on the street from motor vehicles – all of which cause disease and death in humans. Blowing the soil in your yard disrupts the soil microbiome and insect life.
So please, do yourself and your neighbors a favor and consider these alternatives:
1. Leave organic matter on the ground to give nutrients back to the soil, as is the natural cycle.
2. Consider using a rake or broom instead of a blower if removal of leaves and organic matter is desired or needed.
3. If you feel it is necessary to use a blower, use an electric one and only intermittently when absolutely necessary, not simply out of habit.
The more people who make the change from gas-powered lawn equipment to a rake, broom, or electric device, the more of us will be able to live healthier, happier lives.
Karina Maher, MD
Pacific Palisades resident
Savings
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Electric equipment is far less expensive and safer to operate than gas.
Source: AGZA.net
Resources
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Lawn Maintenance and Climate Change (Climate Action at Princeton University)
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2015 Study: National Emissions from Lawn and Garden Equipment (EPA Files: Quiet Communities)
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Edmunds: Leaf Blower’s Emissions Dirtier than High-Performance Pick-Up Truck’s
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Health and Environmental Impacts of Gas-Powered Landscaping Equipment (Quiet Communities)
