I heard the rumble, followed quickly by the roar, and knew that the latest group of polluting noise-makers had arrived. I stepped outside and shot this video. This way-too-big-for-the-space lawn mower was next driven down my street to about five more lawns, and was followed by two other guys with back-mounted power tools. The noise is deafening, day in, day out. The smell in the air is disgusting. And the damage to the environment is mounting.
In fact, the EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency), according to its website, has finalized a new emission control program to reduce hydrocarbon emissions from small spark-ignition engines by about 35 percent. The new exhaust emissions standards will take effect in 2011 or 2012, depending on the size of the engine. The final rule also includes new standards to reduce evaporative emissions from these fuel systems. These standards will reduce the harmful health effects of ozone and carbon monoxide from these engines.
What's more, chronic sound pollution not only impacts daily quality of life but also increases stress and can cause irreparable hearing loss. A push-type gas-powered mower is 85 to 90 decibels for the operator. Riding lawnmowers are 90-95 decibels. According to The Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, an organization committed to creating more civil cities and more natural rural and wilderness areas by reducing noise pollution at the source:
In a typical suburb, gas mowers can be heard a quarter mile away or more. Mowing a quarter-acre lot pollutes 100 acres of neighborhood with noise. And while the neighbors complain, the operator is slowly going deaf. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) both recommend that people limit their total exposure to noises as loud as a lawn mower to 45 minutes per day for the quieter gas mowers, 15 minutes for the average mowers, and five minutes for the loudest ones.
Want to "take back your neighborhood"? Here is a fabulous overview of the issue, as well as a list of name-brand mowers and the decibel level of noise that corresponds with their use.
As for me, I had one of the best mowing experiences yet the other day. It was finally a bit chilly, a breeze was blowing, I got lost in my thoughts amidst the gentle "click, clack mow" of my push reel mower. Stay tuned for the celebratory handspring on my front lawn when I do the "final mow" of the year within the month! And join me in doing figurative handsprings about the positive changes that are finally happening regarding protection of our fragile environment and the workers who operate equipment that damages their health, and ours.
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2 comments:
What is all that lawn about?. We have ugly pebbles, tan bark and even plastic grass near where I live but we have small yards, wow that is a lot of grass and a lot of noise.
Good space to grow pumpkins and watermelon!
Oh, my goodness. And that's considered a smallish lawn, Maggie, as least here in suburban Atlanta.
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