Residences and Clean Air (Minneapolis, St. Paul: luxury, living in, buses)

[Beenhere4ever]

Star Tribune published this today: To fight Twin Cities smog, give up that lawn mower, diesel buses? | StarTribune.com

Going to be quite interesting to see how the voters of Minneapolis react if someone says you can't put all that smoke in the air anymore. We are so sure we are a green city, but if we couldn't mow with gasoline, how well will that pretense hold up? I'm going to watch with keen interest.

[ocsid]

Ugh. This article is ridiculous. Nobody is going to ban lawnmowers or charcoal grills - the public outcry would be huge.
I could see the city banning firepits/chimneas. I don't agree with it, but I could definitely see it happening because of the complaints of a few busybodies.

[Beenhere4ever]

Yeh, I think you might be forecasting correctly.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

Star Tribune published this today: To fight Twin Cities smog, give up that lawn mower, diesel buses? | StarTribune.com

Going to be quite interesting to see how the voters of Minneapolis react if someone says you can't put all that smoke in the air anymore. We are so sure we are a green city, but if we couldn't mow with gasoline, how well will that pretense hold up? I'm going to watch with keen interest.

Minneapolis voters aren't the only ones impacted here. This is something that would impact the entire state of Minnesota, since it would be the state that would be subject to fines from the federal government. Since the area that is out of compliance is the Twin Cities metro, I would guess that measures taken would impact all Twin Cities residents...not just those living in the city of Minneapolis or St. Paul.

I understand that people resist change, especially when it comes to things they are accustomed to and take for granted. However, I don't think it is unreasonable to bring these topics up for discussion. I personally don't have asthma and I'm not elderly. However, I will be old one day and I'd strongly prefer to be able to breathe the air without coughing out a lung when that day comes.

As a resident of the Twin Cities I currently use a chimenea, a gas powered lawn mower and gas powered trimmer. I wouldn't be opposed to giving up any of them, but in order to do so I just need to make sure that good alternatives would be available for grooming my lawn and burning branches and sticks that I periodically clean up from my property. Yard waste is taken away by the city as part of the city's solid waste and recylcing program so no worries with the chimenea. I have a hand-push mower which I use when I can, but it has proven ineffective with weeds and grasses that have grown more than 6 inches. Maybe there are more technically advanced handmowers that can handle taller plants? I may have to investigate that a little more. I suppose I could replace my trimmer with a battery powered one...probably wouldn't be the end of the world. I also understand that we live on a small city lot, where these things are much more manageable. I imagine that the people who will be upset the most are those living on large lots in the outer suburbs.

Regarding grills, I didn't see anything mentioned in the article about those would be banned. I'm not sure I would be as easily convinced that life should be lived without that luxury.

Recreational fires were discussed, and that one is a little tougher for me. Perhaps the number of open fires to household could be limited to a certain number per calendar year? I personally wouldn't be opposed to that.