From David Knowles, on February 3 in Yahoo News, a powerful new story, with the headline you see below:

Here is a sample:

“The leaf blower is a truly vile invention,” one of the guests [at a recent gathering in Pasadena, Caliifornia] Geoff Dyer, a writer and visiting professor at the University of Southern California, said over the noise, “a major setback to the progress of civilization.”
Dyer is not alone in that view, and neighboring Pasadena is one of dozens of California cities that enacted restrictions on the use of leaf blowers over the last decade. The outcry over the ubiquitous devices grew so loud, in fact, that in October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that will mean the end of the use of gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers in the state.
But addressing the noise pollution they cause wasn't the main reason behind the legislation. Small off-road engines, or SOREs, are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, causing spikes in asthma in workers who operate them.

Congratulations to David Knowles and the people he is describing. As we’ve often said on this site, this is a matter of accelerating the inevitable.