Please Don't Mow on Bad Air Quality Days

This issue has been mentioned before, but as we get deeper into the summer season (and with the Solstice upon us) allow me to make the small request that folks refrain from using blowers or gas mowers on Code Red and Orange air quality days.

In bright sunlight

* nitrogen oxides
* hydrocarbons and
* oxygen

interact chemically to produce powerful oxidants like ozone (O3) and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN).

These secondary pollutants are damaging to plant life and lead to the formation of photochemical smog. PAN is primarily responsible for the eye irritation so characteristic of this type of smog. - Kimball's Biology Pages

Essentially, when we use motors and engines on bright, hot, days, the fumes they emit yield a lot more actual pollution, compared to the fumes themselves, thanks to basic chemistry. We cannot all work from home on bad air quality days (though some of us can, and do. I cut a deal to do this very thing with my boss this summer), but we all can choose to put off mowing or running the leaf blower until a few days later. (I'm looking at you, Prius owners with perfectly manicured lawns!

There are a few more things we can do as well. The first, of course, is the aforementioned working from home on bad air quality days. Most folks in Loudoun can probably do their job from home at least some of the time, so before you head home today, ask your boss for permission to work from home on Code Red air quality days. They get announced on the radio just like school closings, and are officially designated by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. The whole point of the designation is to inform people when it's better for us all to not drive, so let's make that happen.

Another thing we can all do is ask our homeowners associations and local governments to refrain from powered landscaping (i.e., mowing and blowing) on bad air quality days. You can contact members of the Leesburg Town Council here, and the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors here. Take a moment to click through, and email your representative, letting them know that you'd like the Town and County to adopt a policy of avoiding powered landscaping on Code Red and Code Orange days. We should have our governments lead by example on this.

Little things like this are not going to solve the big problem that is climate change, but it will help with the small problem of local air quality. And it will get our organizing institutions (governments, businesses, households) thinking about air quality as a quality-of-life issue worthy of action. It's a start, and we have to start somewhere. Not all of us can buy a Prius and live in Arlington.

Source: Leesburg Tomorrow

 

I'm totally into cleaning up our air and water, and generally agree with the recommendations you make.

On the flip side, what worries me is when people and the government begin interfering with people's behavior and personal choices, and begin looking down on others because they mow their lawn on the "wrong" day. Don't think this isn't already happening--just watch Europe and California for examples.

And, by the way, I know several Prius owners who have a much bigger carbon footprint than families with big SUV's. We have already begun penalizing people (morally and economically) for not buying the "right" car--it is incredibly shortsighted so assume someone who has a Prius is more "friendly to the earth." Who uses more energy? The Prius owner who commutes 30 miles each way every day to work (on the highway where they are using gas anyway) or the guy who drives a big SUV but works from home?

 

thank you silence...

 

I didn't see any inference for more government interference. The suggestion is to ask our local government to be more conscientious about the ozone when landscaping.

As for homeowners postponing mowing the grass (gas mowers)and using blowers is merely a suggestion.

Many people are oblivious to everything going on around them and perhaps do not understand the effects these simple chores have on the ozone.

During a code red the morning news will suggest the same. They have been announcing code red levels for the last 20+ years.

Your comparison (carbon footprint) between a SUV and a Prius addresses fuel not emmissions.

 

Wouldn't the quantity of fuel burned translate into overall emission levels? I think the point is still valid that driving an "earth unfriendly" SUV 5-10 miles a day is better overall in both fuel consumption and emissions than driving an "earth friendly" hybrid 50+ miles per day for example.