Episode Summary: This episode is an excerpt from a previous episode about How leaf blowers are a problem for the environment.

A 2011 study showed that a leaf blower emits nearly 300 times the amount of air pollutants as a pickup truck.

Having contributed to many areas of the Carbon Almanac, Jenn and Imma came together to discuss a number of different environmental issues.

In this episode, the problem with one piece of garden machinery is discussed; the leaf blower. The pollution from gasoline and noise, as well as the alternatives are covered. How communities can help each other provide different solutions to clearing up, or even making use of, the leaves which fall from our trees.

To listen to the full episode of ‘Leaf Blowers’ go here.

For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac, visit thecarbonalmanac.org

Want to join in the conversation?

Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.

Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!

You can find out more on page 90 of the Carbon Almanac and on the website you can tap the footnotes link and type in 034

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Jenn Swanson and Imma Lopez.

From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer and Community Connector, helping people help themselves.  

Imma is from Cádiz in the South of Spain, living in Aberdeen, Scotland. Imma is a sommelier, a poet, a podcaster, a mother, a slow food advocate, and an animist activist.

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

We were talking the other day and two things have happened since then.

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One is I've been, I read on the

thread that how can we speak about,

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or have a conversation about not

just to take an action of me?

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No.

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Um, using a rake or a brash instead,

but what about an action that include,

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let's say all my neighborhood or even

the whole town to do something to.

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What do you think?

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JENN: So getting more people

on board with, um, changing the

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use of using a leaf blower and

maybe doing something different.

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INMA: Yes, we'll come.

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We tell our Lisa.

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Yeah, how can we start?

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JENN: Well, one of the things that you

can do, if you absolutely must have

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a leaf blower is get an electric one.

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They have electric ones out there.

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They're not as loud.

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They do just as good a job and they

run on battery rechargeable batteries.

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So you can put a rechargeable battery.

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That you can put in your lawnmower

that you can then put in your leaf

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blower and your weed Wacker, and

you could use an electric one would

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be one solution that I would have.

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INMA: Yes.

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And then, and then that's

for us, for us individually.

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And then yes, after that, or

let's say I'm totally for.

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If this is my decision, but how,

how can, what do you seeing, or

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what would you do if you want to

make an action with a lot of people?

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JENN: I think he needs to have a

conversation, like bring them all

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together and have a conversation about it.

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And, and maybe people would

have solutions amongst.

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You know, I mean, a whole group of

people always comes up with different

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ideas and yes, and it might be,

you might end up sharing tools.

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You might end up, um, you know,

one person really likes to rake and

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somebody else really likes to use.

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You know, another tool and they could

share, or, uh, they could trade or they

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could make a decision that this was going

to be a quiet zone and they weren't going

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to have the pollution and the noise of.

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Gas power leaf blowers

in this neighborhood.

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It's a leaf blower, free neighborhood.

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INMA: Oh, I love that.

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I love that.

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Yeah.

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And then also I wanted to tell

you my experience, since we, we

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talk, we have sold the low moaner.

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We had decided to go free.

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JENN: Good soldier lawnmowers.

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INMA: Uh, well he was quite

old and he was of the soul.

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The selling part of it was just like

an, a statement, more that something,

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something that, oh, we want, we

are not going to use C anymore.

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What we can do with it.

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We are not going to put it in the being.

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So someone else, uh,

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JENN: And that's great because

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INMA: also when I was speaking with,

when we had a conversation with

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Alabama, we were talking about food

forest and I saw, okay, no, cutting.

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The, the lawn could be an

interesting step toward.

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And then the other day, the only day

we have sun here, seeings, two weeks

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ago, we went to the garden and we

started to use manual cutting tools.

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Right.

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And it was beautiful.

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It w it was, it was like having a

conversation with the grass and with

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the trees and with the, with the shrubs.

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And I'm telling you, I'm

telling everyone, you must try.

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JENN: Maybe that's how

I should cut my lawn.

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Although I do, I do again, have

an electric lawnmower, but I have

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a very, very tiny lawn because we

removed our back lawn a couple of

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years ago and turned it, turned it

into flower beds and, um, uh, gardens.

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So we don't, we only have a

tiny, tiny little patch of

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mostly Moss, not really lawn.

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Yeah.

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Um, but we don't certainly

don't need leaf blowers,

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INMA: but I love, uh, what you

said to the Wade was tar we action

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inaction where a lot of people

joined together the way to start the

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asset conversation because ideas.

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Like really interesting ideas

could come from, from a group.

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JENN: Absolutely.

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I love this.

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Thank you.

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INMA: And ma'am.

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Thank you.

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sessions, a podcast with carbon

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