What a beautiful Fall morning I woke up to today. Sunny, warm, clear and everywhere the colors of Fall. However by afternoon I found myself unable to escape the smoke and smell of residents all over the city burning their leaves.
If Fairfield is going to proceed with their plans to be a “green” city, then banning this practice is going to have to be one of the top items on the Sustainability Coordinator’s agenda. The practice of leaf burning is banned in most municipalities because it leads to air pollution, health problems and fire hazards.
Leaf smoke is hazardous to your health:
Leaf smoke may also contain hazardous chemicals such as carbon monoxide, which can bind with hemoglobin in the bloodstream and reduce the amount of oxygen in the blood and lungs. Another noxious chemical commonly present in leaf smoke is benzo(a)pyrene, which has been shown to cause cancer in animals and is believed to be a major factor in lung cancer caused by cigarette smoke. And while breathing in leaf smoke can irritate the eyes, nose and throat of healthy adults, it can really wreak havoc on small children, the elderly and people with asthma or other lung or heart diseases. — About.com
Multiple Small Fires Lead to Air Pollution:
Sporadic individual leaf fires usually don’t cause any major pollution, but multiple fires in one geographic area can cause concentrations of air pollutants that exceed federal air quality standards. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), several leaf and yard waste fires burning simultaneously in a particular locale can cause air pollution rivaling that from factories, motor vehicles and lawn equipment. — About.com
Leaf Burning is a Fire Hazard:
The cost [of leaf burning] including higher incidences of home and forest fires and associated property loss and need for increased fire protection. — epa.gov
Plus there are easy and better alternatives to leaf burning. Specifically, composting or mulching of fallen leaves. If you don’t have a compost bin for your garden, it’s easy to put one together in the corner of your yard where you can mix together leaves with grass clippings and table scraps to create a great soil conditioner.
Or save money on lawn care by simply mowing over the leaves with your lawnmower. This will provide many benefits, including weed suppression, moisture conservation and moderation of soil temperature.
What do you do with your fallen leaves? Would you support or oppose a ban on leaf burning here in Fairfield?
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I would so love to see a ban on leaf burning! The other crazy thing I see EVERYWHERE is throwing away leaves in plastic bags. So weird. A city pick up program for leaves?
Your kidding!!!??? Then why on earth are people burning and throwing them in black plastic bags????!!
This is one of the first things I will address as a City Council member, and it is a priority in the Go-Green plan. A complete ban probably won't happen right away, but over time we can phase out the burning and get people to either compost the leaves themselves, mow it up on their lawns, and if they really want to rake them up and bag them then they pay for the brown bags and the city would pick them up and compost them. It'll happen, and if a public petition is needed to get things moving them we can post it here on Fairfield Voice to help get the word out.
If you see leaves in black plastic bags – it may not be someone breaking the rules (about putting yard waste is purchased bags so city can mass compost them.) I used to have arrangements made with certain folks in town that if they bagged their leaves, I haul them for free – they all went on my gardens and compost piles. They saved $$ by not buying the yard waste bags and I got compost materials.
I'd love to see a Green Board/Website which would facilitate such arrangements between people in town. It's a total win-win situation.
such a relief to hear many people may not be throwing away their leaves.
Michael- thank-you!!
I think people that have been in the habit of burning leaves and are not used to thinking eco-friendly, just feel entitled to keep doing what they always have – education and then passing a law that bans the practice seems to be the only way to stop it. Kartika
I burn leaves. I grew up in a suburb of Chicago, where the "ritual" of burning leaves on a crisp November Saturday afternoon, brings fond memories. We did it, our neighbors did it… adults, kids all coming together almost as a fall festival… raking, bagging, burning. To steal a line from Robert Duvall's famous quote, "I love the smell of burning leaves [in the morning]". I love warmth of the fire, I love the challenge to see how few matches it takes to keep the fire going. I love how much (seemingly) easier the job of leaf disposal is by burning. I even love the smell left on your clothes….
I believe myself to be a fairly liberal minded person and support the concept of sustainiability (however you define it). I love how Lynne Twist put it in her recent weekend seminar… "bringing an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just presence…" How embarassing to find myself part of the "problem"…
Question is, what will I do about it?…. Not sure. I find it hard to believe that the 2 – 3 days in November (occuring over a 2 week period and limited to Sat, Tue, Wed, Thur daytime hours), is such a big deal, and should have so much attention, when you (we) consider the much larger sustainability issues we face. I suppose a ban on leaf burning is a good place to start.
I'm willing to change… but I do hope we as a community don't expend too much energy on this one issue….
I hear ya Sven and Old School. Just to clarify, no one's going to smack you with a fine for having a small backyard fire pit, so you can always throw a few leaves in there to get that old nostalgic feeling.
In terms of a city-wide policy on leaf burning, it's more than just a political correct issue and the need for a ban falls under two much larger issues: Public health and safety, and a community-wide effort to reduce our collective carbon-footprint. I won't insult your intelligence by siting data on air-quality control or global warming since most of us can agree that the air we breathe shouldn't make us sick and the earth's climate would be better off staying pretty much the way it is (i.e. hospitable to human life).
Wide-scale leaf burning will end in Fairfield at some point for a variety of reasons, and hopefully the transition will be as smooth and painless as possible.
Why do you think they call them LEAVES? You're supposed to LEAVE them! OK, to get serious, if you're listening to me, Mr. City Councilman – what is with this new anti-composting rule in Fairfield? You can't just have a compost pile anymore; there's a long list of rules & regs about how you have to have a certain type of fence, etc. So we make leaf-burning easy, and put up roadblocks to composting.
The general pattern I've noticed here in FF over the years is, if a single newcomer/Ru does something inconsiderate and offensive to the traditional population, it sometimes ends up in legislation that affects everyone. Remember the solid, 8 foot tall fence on South Maple, nicknamed "Fort Apache?" The guy who built it was getting his car egged a lot, so he built this huge ugly fence. Locals were offended by the ugly thing, and the whole populace ended up with a Fence Ordinance. But before time the Ordinance even went into effect, the property was sold and Fort Apache was cut down to an attractive, curved 2-3 foot fence. 15 years later, we still have a ridiculous fence ordinance.
I am guessing that the anti-composting ordinance came about because of a single compost heap that offended one or 2 neighbors.
I must admit that I am unaware of an "anti-composting" ordinance. I was just elected last week and won't officially start until January, so I admit there is a lot that I need to catch up on, but this is news to me. If such an ordinance is in fact in effect then it will seriously inhibit the whole Go-Green initiative and will have to be reviewed. If it's a general rule about keeping compost piles neat and orderly I can't say I see a problem with that.
As for the anti-Ru ordinance theory I have no experience with that so I'll refrain from commenting.
Oh, and you can call me either Mr. Halley or Michael.
Nice to meet you, too. I play basketball with your husband from time to time and I can tell you he's a real tiger on the court.
I agree that passing new laws and ordinances is not the best way to reach a goal. My goal has always been to help create a culture of sustainability where solutions come from the bottom up, not top down. In terms of leaf burning I don't support a complete ban right away, but rather a transition away from burning by opening up all other less polluting options. Perhaps Waste Management could offer composting bins at discounted rate to encourage more home-owners to try it, or the City could offer any private party interested in free leaves first dibs on the bagged leaves people don't want. The end result of a transition away from burning would be a ban, not the first step.
I don't like pointless laws any more than the next person, and if there's a way to tweak existing ordinances so that they make more sense then I will do that. Yet there will always be laws to protect people from potential threats, and obnoxious smells, pollution, and global warming are all real threats. So I'll say now what I said in the beginning: I support a ban on leaf burning in the City of Fairfield and will work to see it happen by the end of my four year term. If it's done right then it will be easy and painless and the majority of people will be very happy with the results.
Given the choice between regulation or subsidization as a means to promote a desired end, I choose regulation. Your example of subsidies even shows the flaw in results (too many windmills), AND it doesn't eliminate your concern of "everybody pays for it", but rather ensures we all pay for it.
There are lots of ordinances on the books that are out dated – that is an entirely different issue and shouldn't be an argument that ordinances are inherently bad.
Some people choose to live outside the city limits because they don't want the city telling them what to do. I want to live in the city limits of a city with smart, effective laws and ordinances, because I don't want to invest (emotionally and financially) in a home and then be the victim of an inconsiderate or uninformed neighbor.
Here's how I think the system of city ordinances should work:
1) Ordinances are updated/added/removed as needed over time.
2) The process of enacting those updates/additions/changes is done by and for the people, without the influence of individuals or businesses seeking financial or competitive gain.
3) A process where any resident can approach the community for a variance. Meaning that we as a community acknowledge that there are exceptions to the rule. Someone who wants to build a beautiful wrought iron fence would get approval from their neighbors and then approach the council (with their local neighborhood support) to get a variance.
This is so random, but regards composting. Part of my theory on current American obesity (aside from corn sugars in half our foods) is that the produce, grains, and legumes we eat are nutritionally deficient because the soil is nutritionally deficient. Monsanto may help agriculture with their yields, but nutritional value of crops arguably still suffers.
I agree with Will who laments the loss of basic knowledge of the earth and sky by the general public. We really need to become better stewards of the soil – all of us. Composted leaves are gold. Why burn them? Michael, please start by setting up a Leaf/Hauling Exchange in Fairfield. And in the meanwhile, unless you live on a busy street (where I intuit the leaves may be heavily polluted from car exhaust) I'll take your leaves!
Cannot resist commenting on the amazon.com ads in FF Voice – is anyone else chuckling at the book titles promoted? Burn, Burned, Burn!
Yes, yermama, a Leaf/Hauling Exchange would be a good place to start. As I mentioned before I would like to see several options put forth, including more backyard composting and mowing/chopping the leaves so that they can nourish the grounds where they fall. As Will pointed out, "leaving" the leaves really is the simplest solution, but it will take all these options to make the move away from leaf burning a reality.
FYI, here's the City's current policy on managing yard "waste." Clearly there's a lot of potential for improvement:
"YARD WASTE DISPOSAL
Yard and garden waste, such as grass clippings and leaves (but not brush or limbs) must be separated out of the regular trash. These items will be picked up on the same day as regular trash pickup if they are placed in the “City of Fairfield Lawn and Leaf Bags” available at City Hall, Hy-Vee, Drugtown, and Wal-Mart. The cost for a 30 –gallon bag is $1.25.
These bags must be placed on the curb in front of the residence, but no closer than three feet to other household trash. The yard and garden waste is not taken to the landfill but is composted instead. Small amounts of brush will be picked up if bundles in lengths of no more than 36 inches and no more than 18 inches in diameter. Individual limbs must be no more than 4 inches in diameter and all bundles are limited to no more than 40 pounds.
BURNING
Burning of yard waste, leaves and brush is allowed during the daylight hours, in the months of April, October and November on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays only. Such burning is allowable only when wind conditions are appropriate and must be contained and supervised at all times. Burning is not allowed in streets or alleys. Burning of trash and household garbage and scrap building materials is not allowed."
I (the leaf burner) like the idea of Leaf/Hauling… exchange…. something reliable… like the spring/fall yard pickup..
Old habits are hard to break…. leaf burning is easy… not as hard on the back as leaf packing… especially as one ages… and cheaper than buying leaf bags…
Sustainable ideals are great, but how to bring about change in consciousness (almost hate to use the word in Fairfield) is the issue…… without an ordinance I'm not so sure people will change.
Perhaps this situation is a template for other issues to be faced… are we always going to "ordinance" our way to change… is there a more socially just way to govern… Can we use modern polling techniques to allow people to a) decide on the relevance of an issue b) discuss the issue and c)provide and vote on solutions?
ps. is mowing/chopping a good idea? My neighbor did the chopping thing…. spent over an hour on his riding lawn mower spewing exhaust fumes and NOISE…. talk about ruining a nice morning…
Creating a new ordinance should be the final stage of a transition from one way of functioning to another. If there's an economically realistic way to poll voters on issues like this then I would love to see that happen, but if not then open dialog like this should be encouraged as much as possible.
In terms of mowing/chopping, if this could be accomplished with electric mowers (another transition that would be good for our air quality and reducing our carbon footprint) then that would reduce transportation emissions considerably. Plus you wouldn't have to get blisters from all that raking.
Place a poll here or on the city's website, never more economical than now.
The carbon footprint of an electric lawn mower vs a relatively new gas powered model is debatable (until we produce more/all of our electricity in better way – [nuclear - solar - wind])
I'll look into the poll thing, as long as there's a way to ensure that every registered voter gets equal voice.
The difference between an electric mower and gas powered model is actually quite significant, even if the electricity used to charge the e-mower comes from fossil fuels. Small motor engines aren't held to the same emissions standards as cars, trucks, or even power plants, so powering an electric motor via the grid is much less polluting than a gas powered motor. Google it and I'm sure you'll find plenty of data to back this up.
Here's a quick poll, I'm sure most anybody could do a better job, and it could be place better. Waddaya want for nut'n??[polldaddy 2241621 http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/2241621/ polldaddy]
Why make people choose when they can have all of the above?
It certainly removes any need for a poll… B)
I hope we can discuss more of these types of issues with a broader spectrum of opinion. This is where blogging excels – it creates an instant public forum around a specific topic, introducing people to new ideas and perspectives. I love participating in this type of dialogue, especially if it can help build bridges between multiple demographics in a community. And Fairfield has a wide range of demographics for such a small community.
I hope we can extend Fairfield Voice to include more authors and drive frequent, intelligent discussion around issues and events that are of interest to the community.
What's next, banning wood-burning stoves as a source of home heating? Is there any difference between that and leaf burning?
Yes the difference is the smoke produced.
My wife wants a wood burning stove and my position is that burning wood is not a sustainable heating option. I'd like to get a more efficient boiler for our radiant heat and find a way to get Alliant to produce more green power (so that our boiler is not powered by electricity from coal).
I'll chime in: Leaf smoke is a real problem for me. When neighbors burn early in the morning or late at night, I get less sleep, because the smoke is concentrated through my cpap (sleep apnea breathing machine) and I can't use it / can't sleep / feel sick until the smoke clears. It's a real problem for me.
Also chiming in: Leaves are gold for gardeners. I vote for an organized leaf exchange program!
takeit all day long
I'm a leaf burner and will continue to burn for as long as possible. Maybe if there were less restrictions on the days one can burn there would be less concentrations of smoke. When burned properly (dry and whole not ground up) there is very little smoke. Ashes are also good for the soil.
The health hazards of leaf burning has led the DNR to post on their website 'learn NOT to burn'. In cities where the population exceeds 2500, a complete ban on open burning of leaves is the sound solution proposed in a 2009 Iowa bill. Before it is mandatory by State law, let Fairfield lead by example. I recommend a switch in our priorities with regard to our City services. Our Fall and Spring pick-up should be exclusively for brush and leaves at no extra cost to anyone…'free' large paper bags made availble serve as the incentive. It is a hugh waste of City funds, staff and certainly not green to have the City make over 70, forty(40) mile trips out to the landfill each pick-up season.The savings on fuel, staff hours and efficiency plus the revenues collected in fees for this ser vice would more than amply allow for free City wide yard waste pick-up….IMPROVING AIR QUALITY FOR ALL! It would also eliminate the unsightly piles of junk on our curbs for weeks and weeks. Institute an immediate ban on leaf burning Spring 2010 – INCENTIVIZE WITH FREE BAGS and establish a voluteer core to assist the elderly and disabled.
The city does pick up leaves. I'm not sure why we saw so many people putting leaves into black plastic bags.
What a bunch of Nazi's. Mind your own business…
Hi, Michael. You took Martha's seat on the council?
Very exciting to hear your support on this issue. I may have to start attending council meetings again!
Yes, I am the new council person for Ward 4. Martha endorsed me because of my experience in and passion for sustainability, and I hope to get a lot accomplished in the next four years. The council meetings themselves will probably still be pretty boring but if I take Mark up on his offer to blog about community issues here on FF Voice then we can get some interesting and lively discussions going.
I sure hope that you take us up on our offer! When you think about it, the combination of an open, progressive public servant who is willing to truly engage with citizens and an interactive communications medium that truly is by the people and for the people is a phenomenal service to the community. So let's do it!
On another more related to this post note, I'm really impressed that you jumped on this issue so quickly. Way to go Michael!
That's a great idea, and it could easily be communicated to the public as an insert in the water bills. I know other growers who collect people's unwanted bags of leaves and use them for compost, so if the city could organize this a bit better it could solve a big portion of the leaf issue.
Correction: Waste Management, not the City of Fairfield, provides the brown bags and leaf pick up. If people leave them in black plastic bags then they're hoping private leaf-loving citizens will come take their leaves away to make black gold (compost). That's a much simpler solution than having Waste Management charge for brown paper bags to pick up and transport (possibly) out of town. If there's a way the City can facilitate a local solution to the leaf situation then rest assured that I will make it happen.
I'm torn on this issue as well. It's a fun thing to do and my family has always done this each Fall. Isn't this being too politically correct?
I also lived in Chicago as a kid and recall burning leaves each Fall. We also used to wash our cars and change our oil in the streets. It wasn't until I moved to Seattle in my adult years, where they have a lot of education around what you shouldn't put down the storm sewers. In Seattle all those soap suds and automotive waste goes directly into the local waterways and is having and enormous impact on the Salmon runs. So I had to change my habits.
When I moved here I started learning for the first time that leaves are actually an important part of replenishing the soil. Here I was purchasing bags of compost from Walmart and at the same time bagging up the leaves in my yard. Scale that habit out to millions of families across America doing the same. When you look at it at that scale it IS a larger sustainability issue. And I find it to be a perfect example of how we as a society have become disconnected from basic knowledge on how to care for our world and be self sufficient.
Nice to meet you Michael, a lot of ppl I respect were your supporters. I don't think it's actually called an "anti-composting" ordinance; that's my sarcastic nickname…actually I think it's called a "composting" ordinance. I don't remember the details but definitely something about a fence or container sticks in my mind. I am remaining deliberately ignorant of the details. I also wasn't complaining about anti-ru sentiment – after all, Will's a newcomer & as far as I know not a meditator, but is full of rad coastal ideas. The complaint/whine was more that there does seem to be a tendency that if one or two people do something really offensive to one or two people, the answer seems to be a new law or regulation. I'd like to see a big hesitation to start enacting a bunch of new laws & regulations – even on leaf burning, which I truly hate personally. As the fence ordinance stands, the beautiful green wrought iron fence around the brick house on the NE corner of Adams & Highland would be illegal (it's grandfathered in because built b4 the ordinance) – but an ugly chain link fence would be legal. Sometime the best solution is not necessarily found in laws & regs. My interpretation of the whole (rental?) home inspection regulation is that there was one guy who was looking for a job (as a home inspector) who kept pushing & pushing & pushing for a home inspection law and finally succeeded in getting one passed long after he gave up on it…but by that time he was in a new line o'business. Now everybody pays for this.
……sooo, my unsolicited advice to you, young public servant (thanks for serving, really), is to consider carefully any unintended consequences of any proposed legislation, and whether there might be a non-legislative way to get to your goal. Also, if legislation is the way to get to the goal, my observation is that if the legislation spells out the goal rather than the means of getting to the goal, human ingenuity finds the best way to get there. Example: early alternative energy legislation gave tax credits for building windmills. Result? Lots of windmills. So many, in fact, that they were getting in each others' windstream and creating LESS energy than fewer windmills would've. More recent alternative energy legislation that's more effective is a Renewable Portfolio Standard. It requires utilities to get x percent of their energy from renewables. The utilities figure out the most cost effective way to do that. Result – wind energy being produced at 25% of the cost of 20 years ago. End of lecture. Have at 'em.
I just don't like inhaling all the smoke. I also feel really bad for people with asthma.
Good point. All roads are leading to rake and compost, either compost at home or using the city's service.
That's funny. I'm an Amazon customer (regular) so it shows me lots of things I want (evil). We're working on transitioning the advertising over to local ads. We're trying to find a way to keep this site out of the red and support more feature development and content.
That's a good point.
It's the fact that leaf burning effects your neighbors and so becomes everyone else's "business" that makes it a community issue.