QUIET LAWNS
HEALTHY NEIGHBORHOODS
What is Sustainable Lawn Care?
Sustainable lawn care is maintaining our lawns so that they look great and support our health and quality of life. Our town’s quiet ambience with its closely adjacent residences is often disturbed by the noise of gas-powered lanw
machinery. Lawns and beautiful gardens are achievable without the use of chemicals. The use of pesticides has been linked to cancers in children and dogs, and since the 1970s, pollinators such as bees and butterflies have been
reduced at alarming rates. In addition, most pesticides end up as run-off into our waterways.
What Can You Do?
In May, consider reducing lawn mowing when pollinators are most active.
During the spring and summer, instead of using a leaf blower, the few leaves on the lawn can be mown into the grass, enriching the soil further.
In the fall, consider leaving the leaves and using a lawn mower to mow over them to provide added nutrients to the lawn for the following season.
Keep leaves on planting beds to protect plants over winter. In the spring, they will have turned into free mulch which naturally breaks down to a rich humus that feeds the woody and perennial plantings.
If you still have extra leaves on your lawn, you can gather them up and take them to the Essex Transfer Station. Our town processes them into a rich compost which residents can take home for free to use on their garden.
Lawn Machinery And Our Health
Gas-powered leaf blowers pose two health risks: noise and air pollution
The CDC says their noise can cause hearing damage after two hours, and another report states that gas-powered blowers are four time louder than battery-powered ones.
They emit a low-frequency sound which travels long distances and can penetrate walls. This disrupts our quality of life and increases stress.
Air quality is another concern with gas-powered leaf blowers. Their small engines cause toxic air pollution including hydrocarbons, cancer-causing molecules which pass directly into the bloodstream when inhaled. Most at risk are
children, and workers who operate the machines.
Consider switching to electric
Battery powered leaf blowers generate no toxic emissions and are quieter.
Those in Essex who have switched to using them say they are efficient, easy to charge and to operate.
For those using commercial landscapers, consider offering the use of your electric leaf blowers to use on your property. Neighbors have taken these steps with positive results.
The same applies to electric lawn mowers and other garden machinery.
Efficient electric lawn equipment is now widely available for both homeowners and commercial users.
We can care for our lawns in a way that keeps them beautiful as well as healthy for humans and wildlife!
The Essex Transfer Station
is open to
Essex town residents (Ivoryton, Centerbrook,
and Essex)
7am – 3pm
Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
