Leaf Haters - A Dirty Topic

Though happy, inspiring topics are my first choice, this blog is a dirty topic: leaf-haters.

November has always been my favorite month in Atlanta.

Year after year, Buckhead’s November backdrop turns into a beautiful painting of various hues right before our eyes. The kind of beauty only God can create. Red, orange, gold, plum leaves everywhere! And it used to stay that way until after Thanksgiving.

But over the last several years Buckhead's beautiful leaf painting has become a filthy, noisy cloud of dust and exhaust pollution.

Gone are Atlanta Novembers of quietly falling foilage.

Leaves that blanket and insulate fellow ancient inhabitants are getting murdered by leaf-haters armed with gas-powered blowers.

Did you know that fallen leaves fertilize soil? Or that leaves otherwise decompose independent of human intervention? Who knew we could leave leaves alone and they’d magically take care of themselves and help the eco-system while they were at it?

We are all complicit in the genocide of leaves by militant, dirty leaf-blowers. Leaf nazis fire up their weapons year-round in Atlanta whether there are leaves on the ground or not. Leaf nazis get paid to make noise and exterminate clean air if there is nothing on the ground to otherwise blow around. They get paid to pollute.

Atlanta is a hot mess of gas-powered blowers. Do you like gas powered blowers?  Are you a leaf-hater nazi? What is so ugly about leaves any way?  Would you consider paying your yard service to do something else?  Perhaps tidying up the leaves with an electric blower or a ________ rake?  Would you consider asking your yard service to aim and fire their cancer-causing machines less often?  Once a month?  Twice a season?

Recently, the International School near our home had leaves hastily blown by three leaf-haters. The bank from which the leaves were expelled is one that is never walked on, used or otherwise noticed by anyone. Inconspicuous nothingness.

Empty, dry bank now.

Same bank, different angle

All the hated leaves are gone. No more November for that patch of earth.

Here are the leaves now. They were slowly murdered for 45 minutes and left dirty and polluted on the other side of the road.

Are you a leaf-hater? Do you think leaves should die a slow, painful death in a cloud of benzene and formaldehyde and harm children and humans along the way? Do you prefer leaves "over there" but not "here"?

I can get out of Atlanta and take a break at the beach and I am thankful for that.  But bugs, spiders and other natural habitats are left to die by leaf-hater genocide and/or feel naked and homeless with no one to advocate for them.

Is that fair? 

There’s a lot to be sad about regarding how humans are destroying quality of life without a leaf-hater elephant in the room.

Excuse the sarcasm. It came out of no where. That's never happened to me before.

Make November Great Again in Atlanta!

Thank you for reading!

Love, Shelley

No leaves to pass by for Thanksgiving guests in this building. (This house was blown again this morning.)

Segregated leaves in the middle triangle.