Green Committee Newsletter - April 2021
by Judy Ryan
The Village of Upper Nyack will hold a public hearing April 15, 2021, to consider the adoption of a “Noise Law of the Village of Upper Nyack.”
https://www.uppernyack-ny.us/home/news/proposed-noise-law-village-upper-...
Included in the law is a section regulating gasoline powered leaf blowers by date and times of operation. The hearing will be conducted on Zoom, and is open to all Village of Upper Nyack residents. When I co-founded the Upper Nyack Green Committee, I knew little about noise and air pollution from gas blowers. I was concerned about pollution from cars, factories, and coal plants, I cared about preserving trees, worried about soil erosion and the health of animal species. It was fellow Green Committee members who educated me about the health risks of gas blowers. In fall, 2019, they presented a gas blower regulation proposal to the Upper Nyack Village Board about those risks.
(https://www.uppernyack-ny.us/sites/g/files/vyhlif5116/f/news/uppernyackl...)
I didn’t know that the exhaust from two-stroke engines, which characterize most gas blowers, contains fine particulate matter, heavy metals and carcinogens. I didn’t think about the fact that the dust they threw up (which did burn my eyes) was of course soil particles, containing fertilizer, mold and even feces. I had no idea what a dangerous mix my developing grandchildren were breathing into their bodies. And I didn’t know that the sound level was was as high as 95 to 115 decibels, substantially higher than the maximum of 85 decibels safe for our ears. We would all prefer to be free to do what we like on our property. We’d all like to use whatever equipment is most efficient on our lawns and gardens.
We’d certainly like to use any we own, whenever we like. But in the last year, we’ve learned a global lesson in the importance of giving up our freedom for the sake of community health and safety. Gas blowers may not be as deadly as the Coronavirus, but their steady use does threaten our health, and the safe development of growing children. Furthermore, there are folks who suffer more than others from the pollution from gas blowers: people with asthma, allergies, and other respiratory conditions.
Most of us hate the noise of blowers, but there are villagers who suffer acutely from the sound. Those with tinnitus, or a debilitating condition called hyperacusis, have a sensitivity to sound that can be highly painful. I have a friend whose younger brother suffers from a sensory processing disorder, accompanied by hyperacusis. He screams when he hears a blower, and doesn’t stop until it does. Others with hearing issues suffer as well. Many properties in our village are contiguous to three or four others. Sometimes two or three blowers will move across one lawn, just six or eight feet from each other, tripling the decibel level.
Why regulate only gas blowers? For reasons of everyone’s health. Electric blowers don’t blow exhaust into the air around us. And they aren’t as loud. They do blow soil particles, and particles of whatever else the soil contains. They can erode garden beds. But they are not the same threat to the community. In a letter to the New York Times, responding to a discussion of Covid restrictions, Lisa Lombardi wrote, “Your freedom stops where it puts others at risk.” This is the message in Upper Nyack’s proposed Noise Law, which includes the regulation of gasoline-powered blowers.
Note: The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Village of Upper Nyack Board of Trustees.