Photo credit: Erik Mclean by Jamie Banks, MSc, PhD, President, Quiet Communities Inc. A recent piece from NPR discusses some of the barriers landscaping professionals face when considering the purchase of battery electric lawn mowers. These mowers, powered by lithium-ion batteries, are quieter, cleaner, simpler, and easier to use and can make for an attractive
Photo credit: Asurnipal licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition Quieter boats, snowmobiles, and lawnmowers are coming, reports The New York Times. The TImes headline, at least in the online version, calls it the Tesla effect, but it is really the effect of both technology and regulation. The technological advances
Photo credit: jan buchholtz licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition There’s an old saying that every cloud has a silver lining. I’m not sure that’s true, but many clouds--or in this case, no rain cloud in Las Vegas--may indeed have a silver lining. As this report in The New
Training session on Mean Green mower, courtesy of the American Green Zone Alliance by Jamie Banks, PhD, MSc, President, Quiet Communities Inc. With our collaborator, the American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA), Quiet Communities works to help transition municipalities, institutions, businesses and neighborhoods to cleaner, quieter, more sustainable landscape maintenance practices for the benefit of health
Training session on Mean Green mower, courtesy of the American Green Zone Alliance by Jamie Banks, PhD, MSc, President, Quiet Communities Inc. With our collaborator, the American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA), Quiet Communities works to help transition municipalities, institutions, businesses and neighborhoods to cleaner, quieter, more sustainable landscape maintenance practices for the benefit of health
Photo credit: Rob Howard licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 by Arnold Gordon, PhD Gas-powered leaf blowers cause many problems. They are noisy, pollute the air with carcinogens, aerosolized particulate matter and greenhouse gases, and disturb the natural leaf litter layer that protects the ground. As far back as 1993, environmental activists urged the Town of Greenwich
Photo credit: Dr. Daniel Fink by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition As those who follow this blog may remember, when I’m not writing about noise issues I’m working as a home handyman fixing things. Ah, the joys of home ownership. On this week’s journey to a big box DIY store, imagine my surprise
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition, and Jamie L. Banks, PhD, MS, Executive Director, Quiet Communities, Inc., Co-Founder, The Quiet Coalition A new California law, AB 1346, phases out the sale of new small off-road gasoline engines. The law, based on concerns over harmful air pollution in the state, affects gas-powered lawn and
Photo credit: Cindy Shebley licensed under CC BY 2.0 by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition Well, the quiet transition doesn’t start tomorrow. Thanks to the efforts of The Quiet Coalition’s Jamie Banks, PhD, and the nonprofit organization she started and leads, Quiet Communities, Inc., it has already started. What is the quiet transition? In
Photo credit: Timothy Valentine licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition Ban the awful leaf blowers. That’s the headline for a letter to the editor in the Camden New Journal, an independent newspaper in London. The writer includes some details of leaf blower history that I didn’t know, namely:
