Many years ago, I taught English in Querétaro, which was then so small you could easily reach every part of it on foot. The first time I crossed the town early in the morning it was so quiet I expected to see nothing but empty streets. To my surprise, I found neither the streets nor the sidewalks empty. It was, in fact, downright dangerous to walk around at that hour, because, without warning, gallons of water (clean, fortunately) might come sailing out of any doorway at any time. This was my first introduction to a curious and charming Mexican custom which, for lack of a better name, I will call the Spotless Sidewalk Syndrome.
In front of every residence, some energetic individual (inevitably a woman, sorry to say) would be scrubbing or sweeping not only the sidewalk but often a section of the street as well and when they were all finished, there was not a bit of dirt – not even a speck of dust, I swear – on any sidewalk in town and the streets too, were impeccably clean. This custom, it seems, goes a long way back in Mexico. It is said that the streets of Tenochtitlán were swept and washed daily by a crew of a thousand street cleaners, who were supervised by health officers and inspectors. While the Aztecs bathed at least once a day, the conquistadores only bothered to take a bath once a year. Cleanliness was definitely not their thing.
To me, the voluntary daily street cleanup in Queretaro was a shining example of civic pride and civilization and I cringe at what it is turning into in modern times thanks to the Japanese, who, in the late 1950’s unleashed upon our planet a device which has frequently been called “the most idiotic invention of all time” – the leaf blower.
The origins of this reverse vacuum-cleaner are shrouded in mystery. Some say it was first developed to disperse agricultural chemicals while others claim it was used to remove debris from delicate Japanese gardens. The inventor is said to be one Dom Quinto, about whom nothing is known. Perhaps he went into hiding to avoid being lynched by millions of people who can’t stand his contribution to cacophony. At any rate, when the device reached the United States, it was, in some areas, at first considered a useful tool for piling up leaves in the late autumn. Although the gizmo was noisy and its emissions excessive, it was considered tolerable because it was used for only a few weeks out of the year.
Then it crossed the border into Mexico, where it was immediately pounced upon as a blessing from heaven, a quick, easy and irresistible solution to the daily task of keeping the ground clean outside one’s door. Designed for use only a few days out of the year, the nerve-racking, noisy leaf blower was transformed into a Power Broom and is now used every single day by countless Mexicans who consider this howling and shrieking machine an absolute necessity.
Unfortunately, the leaf blower was never designed to be a dust mop and thousands of well-meaning users in Mexico are literally stirring up clouds of trouble for themselves and their neighbors.
All you have to do is to take a look at the contents of what leaf blowers raise into the air. First of all, there is plenty of excrement: dog, horse and cat feces, bird, bat and mouse droppings. In addition, leaf blowers can kick up particulates containing pesticides, fertilizers, brake pad fibers, fungi, dirt, hanta virus, volatile compounds, mold and fungal spores, weed seeds, insect eggs, pollen, salt, lead, arsenic, mercury, heavy metals and other carcinogenic substances.
Approximately five pounds of particulate matter per leaf blower per hour are blown into the air and can take hours and even days to settle. These particulates aggravate allergies and asthma. They also contribute to cardiac conditions such as arrhythmia and can cause heart attacks. Moreover, they contribute to pulmonary diseases such as bronchitis, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In addition to the disgusting material the leaf blower lifts into the air, the emissions of its engine are way off the chart. Air pollutants coming out of a gasoline-powered blower for only half an hour are equivalent to those emitted from 440 miles of automobile travel at 30 mph average speed (California Air Resources Board).
As far as gardening goes, experts say the leaf blower is the very worst imaginable for plants. Wind coming from the nozzle is hot, dry and moving at about 180 mph, the speed of a hurricane or tornado. It kills soil-dwelling organisms, they say, and is exceedingly harmful to plants.
Last but not least, comes the outrageous noise of the leaf blower, which affects many people in the same way as the whine of a dentist’s drill. Leaf blowers produce a noise level of 70-75 decibels at 15 meters. They can cause hearing loss at this distance and, of course, result in eventual deafness to the operator, if, as is so common in Mexico, his ears are unprotected.
Because of all these factors, Mexico desperately needs to find a modern device that will satisfy the demands of the Spotless Sidewalk Syndrome without causing pollution, pulmonary diseases, lung cancer and deafness. If we have succeeded in exploring distant planets and splitting the atom, surely someone can come up with a quiet, non-polluting vacuum cleaner that can remove dust and dirt as efficiently as the 1,000 silent street sweepers of Tenochtitlán.