Idle Doodle: No more gas leaf blowers

This morning, I read this Reason article about the coming ban on gas-powered gardening equipment. In it, California, since it's always at the forefront of bad ideas, was brought up as a state that has passed a ban on the sale of gas-powered landscaping equipment by 2024 through a regulatory agency. Amusingly, the article went on to quote an industry representative in Los Angeles saying that for a crew of 3 to operate electrical equipment during a day's worth of work, they would have to bring 30 to 40 fresh batteries with them.

It also brought up Hayward, the city I live in, as a city that had already banned (but not yet effective) the use of gasoline-powered equipment. My first thought was, "Damnit. I bet my gardening bill is going to go up."

Well, I was wrong.

Later the same day, I received an email from my gardener, based out of Hayward. It cited rising costs of labor, other operational costs, and the upcoming city ban of gasoline-powered equipment as their reason to...shut down their gardening maintenance service altogether while retaining their contracting portion of the business.

Great. Maybe I can ask my barber to see if he'll trim my yard with his clippers.