Letters

I am writing this letter to ask all of you to agree with me that the gasoline-powered leaf blower is, perhaps, one of the worst inventions of the past 75 years. It would be fitting if it was invented in Japan in 1947 as retribution for the U.S. atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I don’t want to diminish those horrific acts, but it was invented in Japan around 1977.

I do think the time has come to do something about the noise, pollution, and to free the poor operators from the health risks imposed by these infernal gadgets.

I, for one, have forbidden my landscaper from using the gasoline-powered blower, and he now uses battery-powered blowers. Personally, I think a good old rake is far superior to those, too.

I am asking all of you to consider telling your landscapers to do the same: Use electric if they must, but please get rid of the gasoline-powered blowers. Even now, I hear them revving in the distance, soon to be much closer to my nose and ears.

Craig Rhodes

Sag Harbor