Kudos to Helen Mangelsdorf for her warning letter, “Leave the Leaves,” in the October 31 edition.

Ms. Mangelsdorf gives strong health and ecological reasons for restricting the widespread use of noisy and air-polluting gas-powered leaf blowers. Not only do these machines degrade our quality of life, but they remove fallen leaves, a critical habitat for the life of native creatures we need and value. Perfectly maintained green lawns date back to the social hierarchy of aristocratic estates of Europe, and are not ecologically sustainable. They consume 9 billion gallons of water daily in this nation, release toxic chemicals into the environment, and make the land remaining between our houses unnatural and unlivable for what’s left of our local wildlife. There are better ways to share our res

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