Skip to content
The Archive of The Carrboro Citizen
Menu
  • Home
  • News
  • Community
  • Schools
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Obituaries
  • Sports
  • Mill
  • Flora
  • Print Archive
  • About
Menu

Letter: Fall noise

Posted on November 18, 2010November 18, 2010 by Staff

Recently, I wrote our local politicians, along with one government official, suggesting that we leave our tree leaves on the ground so as not to disturb nature’s process. I mentioned a California trend toward banning leaf blowers and referred to an article in the Earth Island Journal magazine. The only real response I received was from the non-elected government official who reminded me that in 2004 a brave Chapel Hill councilman tried to ban leaf blowers. The councilman was demonized by some citizens with comments like, “You can have my leaf blower when you pry it from my dead, garden-gloved hands.”

We need more brave politicians who will stand up to reactionary comments and encourage environmentally friendly practices. We need to encourage leaves being decomposed. Leaves provide natural fertilizer, conserve moisture, modify temperatures and prevent soil erosion, according to experts. The environmentally correct thing to do would be to allow the leaves to mulch or rake them as needed into a compost pile.

We should start now by stopping the practice of using leaf blowers, which pollute the air and disturb the peace of animals and people alike. We need visionaries to provide environmental legislation that would help this community for generations. Let’s leave the leaves and encourage neighborhoods to rake their leaves only for compost, rather than putting them into a pile and having the city move them to another spot. This process is wasteful on so many fronts.

Perhaps this does not have to be legislated, but neighborhood covenants could be more accommodating of leaves left on the ground. Let’s stop the practice of manicured lawns and discourage the practice of using leaf blowers and weed eaters. Leaves provide natural fertilizer. This is one small environmental practice that citizens could do individually. 

Many people are already doing this, but many more are needed now. Our leaves are better left mulched on the ground or raked onto a compost pile. This is what my grandparents did. And businesses could stop blowing their leaves, an annoying noisy practice to their customers. We need to pick up a rake and start composting.

D. L. Nichols
Chapel Hill

Web Archive

© 2025 The Archive of The Carrboro Citizen | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme