First They Came for the Guns, Now Cali Considering Ban on Gas-Powered Lawn Tools
The nanny state of California is now considering a ban on gasoline-powered lawn equipment, a move the state government says is for Californians’ own good.
According to KOVR, state lawmakers are not worried about citizens losing fingers to mower blades, but about the greenhouse gasses being emitted from garden tools running on fossil fuels.
As of now, 60 cities have enacted some form of restriction on gas-powered lawn equipment.
A statewide ban would seemingly force everyone in the state to turn to electric gear to maintain their lawns and gardens.
For anyone who has ever worked with both gas-powered lawn equipment and the tools’ electric-powered cousins, there is a clear difference in power.
This ban would also mean time spent recharging or the hassle of dragging an extension cord to all corners of the yard.
Seemingly, citizens’ only other choice would be to use hand tools.
In the mind of California politicians, this is worth it to save the world from climate disaster.
According to the California Air Resources Board, a commercial leaf blower running for an hour “emits smog-forming pollution comparable to driving a 2017 Toyota Camry about 1100 miles, or approximately the distance from Los Angeles to Denver.”
Lawnmowers are apparently slightly better for the environment, with an hour of use emitting only what a Camry would in a 300-mile drive.
It’s unclear if the ban would affect other machines using similar small engines, like smaller go-karts and generators, or simply be limited to garden gear.
This move would fit with California’s prior attempts to lead the nation in fighting the apparently existential threat of climate change, including banning plastic straws.
Of course, the Golden State is not content to just keep people from causing environmental catastrophe.
California is infamous for its nanny state-style gun laws, which include red-flag regulations, restrictions on ammunition and bans on certain firearm parts.
While the state’s potential ban on gasoline-powered lawn equipment may make its emissions statistics a little better, it does nothing to combat the massive amount of pollutants coming from increasingly industrialized nations like India and China.
China alone was found to be a major ocean polluter, something that even the strictest of regulations in the United States would not stop.
Likewise, Californians could soon be hacking away at overgrown weed with anemic tools while China’s 1.3-billion-strong population is using gas-powered tools for the most mundane of garden chores.
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