Nobody should be running leaf blowers at four in the morning. They are awful at any hour but four in the morning is just… <vomit emoticon>
And, with our tax dollars. Just no.
Always happens during biker events. (Not the bikers’ fault). Every morning starting promptly at 4 AM.
When government does something, the practice is implicitly legitimized and spreads out to become social norm. Not really a norm we want to spread in this case.
The leaf blowing will go on every morning starting at 4 AM for the duration of the event. A good example of how machinery has just expanded the amount of work people are expected to do, and has ratcheted up the expectations for (in this case) how “clean” the ground is expected to be. It’s the outdoors though; it’s not our living room.
The fumes are awful. The so-called “cleanliness” is only in the visual dimension, as the noise pollution and air pollution caused by this unnecessary work are very obvious.
That seems to be a characteristic of modern life; the emphasis on visual neatness. (I wonder if that’s a side-effect of people mostly viewing the world from behind the closed window of a climate-controlled car or building.)
It’s still going on a half hour later.
When permaculture co-originator Bill Mollison referred to unnecessary work as a form of pollution, he was right in more ways than one!
PS. If you know what ancient communication platform the title of this post is a reference to, you might be old like me, haha! If you get this reference, email me or text me to receive a special prize.