Battleangel

Wired notes how much people hate hearing Leaf Blowers. They even provide a link to Husqvarna’s new 356BTx. But the basic premise that they get wrong here is that leaves don’t have to be removed. Raked or blown or otherwise. It’s just some esthetic nonsense humans have been fixed on. Like striving towards perfect homogenized lawns even though they are virtually impossible to realize an dare I say unnatural. Here’s the contradiction, the article says the nagging plaintiff “doesn’t mind seeing a few leaves on lawns and sidewalks”, which essentially hints he’d like to see people going at it with rakes and brushes. And don’t be fooled by his apparent goodwill. In the end he’ll want every single leave gone, just as before. By hand. Taking more time and being more physically enduring for the people doing the work. But I guess that for the middle / upper classes, their peace and quiet is more important than a few laborers breaking their backs … what else is new.

As for the solution, you can just mow the leaves which will produce a finer material that will more easily compost. And feed the lawn. As for concrete areas, well, either you just leave it to pile up in the gutter or take up what you can with one of those whatchamacallit mechanical or suction sweepers with rotor brushes. I’m sure there are plenty of approaches, but as one who has worked in this field I am confident that these complaints will, in the end, only strike at the people doing the actual work, as it always does.