(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . WYFP: Think Globally, Act Locally? Perhaps Not. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-04 One block from the Police Station, in the bike lane. Note multiple piles. Davis, CA, is a town near Sacramento that I refer to as a “small Midwestern college town that happens to be in the center of California.” It’s a wonderful place to live, with all the benefits that come from the association with the University, and the culture of the town/gown intersection. The town is supposedly “progressive, forward thinking, and bike friendly.” However, the good citizens and City Council of this town tend to be very conservative when it comes to taking action on the climate crisis. A little background: I have served on county and city commissions for over 20 years until 2014. I served 11 years as chair of the city’s Bicycle Advisory Commission, and worked very closely with city staff and the Council. And I slowly discovered during this time that the professed goals of the City did not match their actions. I will use two examples to highlight this problem. First, bike lanes that aren’t always friendly to bikes. And second, the very clear problem of gas powered yard equipment contributing to excessive greenhouse gas emissions. BIKE LANES: Davis was one of the first communities in the US to build dedicated bike lanes to encourage people to ride bikes for daily commutes. As a graduate student in the ‘70s, I rode my bike to campus every day, and then as an employee for ten years in the 21st century until I retired, I was grateful again to be able to ride my bike to work. During that entire 50 years until now, though, one always had to be aware of obstructions in the bike lanes. These obstructions consisted of yard waste (tree limbs, leaves, clippings from brush) that were piled into the streets for pickup by the local waste company. These piles could be extremely hazardous, especially at night. During my time on the Bike Commission, we learned of a grad student who hit a pile in the dark and broke both of his arms. Yes, he had a light. No, it didn’t help. Davis is one of only three cities in California that still allows this kind of yard waste pickup. As of a couple of years ago, they have a statute that prohibits yard waste in the bike lanes, but enforcement is negligible (see pic at top, taken a month ago. It’s one block from the police station). A proper climate crisis response would be to do anything to get people out of cars and into alternate transportation, but allowing blocked bike lanes is the exact opposite of that response. GAS POWERED YARD EQUIPMENT: Lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and even chain saws, all powered with gas, are extremely bad for the environment and global warming. I transitioned to all electric yard equipment 15 years ago, and have advocated for a general transition for years. I, and many other advocates, have asked the City for years to encourage transition to non-polluting equipment. A year ago, this issue came up before the City Council, and I sent them the following letter: The events of the last couple of years, and especially this year so far, have demonstrated that the earth is in crisis. This is a serious emergency, which has progressed much faster than I thought it would. It is apparent to me that action must be taken immediately at all levels, from the individual to governments everywhere. I am talking about the climate crisis, which is going to affect everyone and everything on this planet. I am asking that the City ban all gas powered yard maintenance equipment as soon as possible. The engines on such equipment contribute a disproportionate amount of pollution to the environment, including greenhouse gases and particulates. From the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: Fuel (evaporative and unburnt) and exhaust emissions consist of hydrocarbons (HC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), and fine particulate matter (PM). Emissions from gas powered leaf blowers are substantial. The amount of CO (carbon monoxide) emitted from a typical backpack leaf blower for just 1 hour is equal to CO coming from the tailpipe of a current year automobile operating for over 8 hours. For the other pollutants, the amounts are even greater. Dust: Leaf blowers push 300 to 700 cubic feet of air per minute at 150 to 280 MPH. The resulting dust can contain PM2.5 and PM10 particles including pollen and mold, animal feces, heavy metals, and chemicals from herbicides and pesticides. Dust emissions from leaf blowers are not part of the USEPA inventory of fugitive dust sources. No data on the amount and size distributions of dust from leaf blower activities have been collected, although estimates for PM10 range from <1% up to 5% of the total generated statewide. Davis would not be the first city to do this. Belvedere, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, Carmel, Claremont, Indian Wells, Lawndale, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Malibu, Mill Valley, Newport Beach, Ojai, Palo Alto, Piedmont, Santa Barbara, Solana Beach, Tiburon, and West Hollywood have all banned gas powered leaf blowers. But all gas powered equipment generates the same high level of pollutants, and should be restricted from use if we are going to get through this emergency. If possible, Davis should encourage the state to create grants for landscapers, in particular, to convert to electric equipment. I use nothing but electric gardening equipment, and I believe commercial yard care companies could do the same. I realize that this is a very small contribution to solving the problem. However, as Adam Sobel says, “Cultural change can lead to political change. Gay marriage seemed politically impossible until it didn’t. The more of us that make what lower-carbon choices we can, and talk about how we are doing it—without shaming others or expecting sacrifices that would cause hardship—the closer the equivalent moment for real climate action will come.” As a laryngectomee, I am particularly sensitive to air quality. But this issue goes far beyond my problems: it is nothing less than the future of our planet. We need leaders who will act now. You may remember my letter of August 3rd of last year about the very harmful effects of gas powered leaf blowers. Since then, Washington, DC has also banned their use, for the reasons I pointed out. The Guardian recently had a story about this ban, and in particular, addressed the effect on landscapers. I would like to direct you to the quotes from a DC landscaper who will not be affected by the ban, since she converted to electric five years ago: The change will require a major shift for most landscapers, said Nancy Sainburg, founder of the Enchanted Garden landscape company, which operates in Washington. Sainburg switched her own workforce to electric blowers five years ago, after, she said, becoming fed up with the smell of gasoline on her clothes and company trucks. “The electric ones are just as powerful as gas blowers, you charge them overnight and just go for it,” she said. “My crew doesn’t get sick like they used to, they don’t get respiratory issues like they used to, they love it. “These blowers don’t make the big stupid noise of the gas ones, it’s more like a vacuum cleaner noise. I think they are great.” I encourage you to read the entire article: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/05/gas-leaf-blowers-banned-washington-dc Please do the right thing for the planet and our future. The Council punted, saying that the State of California should take the lead. They also empathized with the landscaper community, which is very large in affluent Davis, saying they didn’t want to force them to spend money to convert. This is a particular liberal problem, where well meaning people make decisions that will actually harm all people down the road, because they don’t want to start the process due to immediate cost. It would be fruitful if they found ways to subsidize the inevitable change instead of ignoring it. And finally, these two issues are closely intertwined. The landscape companies are often the ones that use their gas powered equipment to create the piles that block the bike lanes. Ironic, eh? And don’t get me started on wood fired fireplaces. So that’s my FP. And it’s your FP, too. If communities, large and small, keep denying the urgency of the climate crisis, that FP is going to affect all of us in a very big way, sooner than you think. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/4/2151005/-WYFP-Think-Globally-Act-Locally-Perhaps-Not Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/