» Letter to the Editor: My little leaf-blower is climate change culprit? - The Daily Gazette

" Letter to the Editor: My little leaf-blower is climate change culprit?

My little leaf-blower is climate change culprit?

The Sunday, Oct. 8, opinion piece, (“Ban the leaf blower,”) by Vicki Michela and Jonathan Marr was a powerful article. Yes, two-stroke engines spew unhealthy pollutants, including CO2, the longest-lasting greenhouse gas that can remain in the atmosphere for more than a millennia.

Addressing climate change is an urgent priority. But misinformation and confusing claims about how leaf blowers pollute is not helpful.

So here’s my take-away from “Ban the leaf blower.”

I can drive a F-150 2011 Ford pickup from Texas to Alaska and equal my pollution from using my leaf blower for half an hour? Yes, that’s what Michela and Marr said.

I admit to frequently using my leaf blower, since I have a bunch of very large trees that keep shedding more leaves each year. Over a year, it consumed one gallon of gas/oil mix.

In a half hour, I burn about 1/60 gallon of gas, and since each combusted gallon of gas generates 19.6 pounds of CO2, then my leaf blower spews 0.33 pounds of CO2, or the equivalent of 0.24 miles traveled by the Ford F-150 driving the 3,300 miles to Alaska from Texas. The F-150 would generate 4,619.7 pounds of CO2 on its long happy trip.

So please, let’s not blame my noisy little leaf blower as the terrible guy destroying our planet. Instead, put the appropriate blame on the highway gas guzzlers.

Don Cooper

Amsterdam

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