By Rachel Max ‘24 On March 31, the West Orange town council met to discuss their upcoming sustainability plan and answer questions to those in attendance, including GOA students. The council plans to have the entire town of West Orange run on sustainable energy. It is impossible to do the entire switch at once due to budget constraints, but the council would like to set a goal date. However, this decision is mostly up to the federal government. Other than the members of the town council, two owners of landscaping companies spoke about gas and electric leaf blowers. Though this example is extremely specific, the switch from gas to electric appliances is applicable to other, more common situations. Part of why many people would like to switch energy sources is due to health concerns. One landscaper, who has yet to get any electric leaf blowers, claims that even after years of using the gas-powered machines daily, he’s had no health problems. This claim makes sense, as the government already has strict rules on how efficient a leaf blower, and other machinery, has to be before being used.
Another, who already has several electric leaf blowers, said that it was very expensive to begin the switch, and the batteries die very quickly, so a vast quantity of batteries and a charging schedule are required. Despite how often the batteries need to be charged, in the long term, electricity is cheaper than gas. However, due to the overall cost, the use of electric equipment is more expensive. During this meeting, a concern about battery disposal was raised. The batteries used in these leaf blowers stop charging up to 100 percent after a few charges, and as time goes on, they fill up less and less. Residents do not want to see those dead batteries end up in landfills. According to both landscapers who spoke, the electric blowers are much louder than a gas blower. While some were in favor of using gas leaf blowers, the students present unanimously agreed that electric was the way to go. Most members of the general public agree that the benefits of using sustainable energy outweigh the inconveniences. Biology teacher Ms. Sonet said that we shouldn’t focus on the gas blowers because “it’s only a drop in the bucket of the much bigger problem.” Many residences complained that the air pollution from the blowers was triggering allergies and asthma, including the claim that this pollution could reach inside the home. “The West Orange Environmental Commission should be doing more to protect its citizen’s interests,” sophomore Daniel Shapiro said. However, more importantly than just listening to the people, instead of the company owners the commission should be well informed with “more concrete scientific evidence” before they make their decision. “If a city or a town is really serious about going green, then get rid of lawns,” Ms. Sonet said. “The lawns are a bigger problem because of all the chemical products we use on them to keep them looking nice, if people just let their lawns grow, only cutting it to keep it manageable, it would make a huge improvement.” If towns want to go green they need to “revamp the whole idea of how suburbs do their lawns.” Members of the council expressed the importance of receiving input from the West Orange community before the final version of the sustainability plan goes into action. They anticipate the final draft for the plan’s completion to be around mid-May.
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