PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 21, 2021
The more I read this month about the 26th U.N. Conference of Parties on Climate Change – also known as COP26 – the more fixated I became on my leaf blower. The leaf blower, a gas-powered Stihl that sits in my barn, for years produced a very robust air flow that can clear my large yard of leaves and other debris in less than two hours – all the while belching a carbon-rich stream of exhaust that contributes in its own small way to the aforementioned climate crisis. That’s why I recently decided to stop using the blower. My personal micro just got run over by the planet’s macro. ~ Bill Nemitz