New Petition to CT Governor Lamont

We don't have to wait until laws are passed.  We can campaign to get state and local governments, colleges and schools to stop using gas powered devices on their own parks, lawns and forests and land bordering roadways.

Governors, mayors, city councils, college presidents and superintendents of schools can be approached to replace gas-powered machines with electric-powered devices.

Petition, write letters, make phone calls, have educational events in person or on zoom.  Explain why we MUST take whatever action we can to stop burning things that produce greenhouse gases.  2030 is the first hurdle, when climate scientists say we have to cut carbon output nearly in half.  

Gas-powered machines give off global warming gases like CO2 and NxO and CO.  UN scientists say we must cut back on our carbon output nearly in half by 2030.  If machinery is to be used in lawns and forests, it should be replaced by electric-powered ones.  The trend around the country is to ban these machines.  Gas-powered leaf blowers can’t be used in Washington D.C. and all gas-powered equipment will be banned from sale in California as soon as January 2024.

Gas-powered equipment gives off exhausts dangerous to the workers who use the tools daily and those in the immediate area.  The two-cycled engines are the worst. A large part of their fuel is not even burned, but is aerosolized.  Chemicals like benzene, butadiene, formaldehyde are released along with a lot of microscopic ultra-fine particles.  The tiny particles can go deeper into the lung and can cause lung cancer, heart disease, strokes, asthma and other respiratory ailments  

The dangers are not limited to lawncare or forest workers themselves. The chemicals affect anyone nearby especially children and a recent report about county-wide increases in particulates says they are making COVID 19 more deadly.  The chemicals also form local smog and haze. 

The noise from these machines range from irritating to dangerous.  Some lawn mowers and leaf-blowers give off sound comparable to that of nearby jackhammers or motorcycles.  Even when it’s not causing direct harm the noise can bother babies and others who sleep during daylight hours, those who study and the increasing number of people who work from their homes.   Quiet shouldn’t be a luxury. 

Grassy lawns were an invention of 17th century aristocrats who wanted to show that they were so rich they didn't need to cultivate all their land.  Before there were lawns, untilled land were called meadows and were used for sheep and goats.

We desperately need to sequester carbon and very the best way to do that is with trees.

Going forward to the future we need more trees and less lawns.  

Of interest First let's Kill Off All the Leaf Blowers - New York Times October 25, 2021

About ten years ago Connecticut spent $550,000 in a program to reduce smog and  haze.  It got cities and regional school districts to exchange their old, high-polluting lawn and grounds maintenance equipment for new, lower-polluting machines.  CT paid 80% of the cost of the newer machines.  

Newer then meant less polluting gas powered machines.  Here in 2022 we have to go beyond that and replace and ban gas powered equipment completely.  We could start by spending $2 million on electric-powered equipment.

Where do we get the money for this?  Perhaps the new Federal infrastructure money could be use for this.  At any rate the governor says the state treasury has too much money and is calling for $336 million in tax cuts.  Certainly he could chop that back a bit and provide $2 million for equipment exchange.

The money need not go only to cities and schools.  A lot of small landscaping companies use gas-powered equipment.  They would be hurt badly when laws [and they're coming] ban that equipment.  But let them exchange for free or for 80% off and you'd have happy companies and happy lawncare workers.