Pacific Palisades former honorary co-mayor Janice Crystal advocating for cleaner air by eschewing gas-powered blowers.
“We won’t rest until every gas blower is out of the Palisades,” said Resilient Palisades co-founder Ryan Craig.
This coming Friday, December 9, RP is hosting a demonstration of top-of-the-line electric commercial blowers. Palisades residents are urged to ask gardeners to attend. The event will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the corner of Capri and D’Este, north of Sunset (near the food trucks).
Landcare expert Dan Mabe of AGZA (American Green Zone Alliance) will go over options. Electric battery equipment demonstration will include hedge trimmers, blowers and mowers.
RP’s Clean Air team led by Susan Fairbain said that they have developed a partnership with a leading dealer of electric (battery-powered) garden equipment and hope to “buy electric blowers for gardeners with clients in the Palisades.
“We’ve successfully trialed the program with one gardener and are now launching with many,” Fairbain said. “Our efforts are assisted by a new state program that subsidizes the purchase of electric (non-emitting) garden equipment. RP and our partner dealer do all the paperwork in order to make it easy for gardeners to switch.”
Members of RP will walk gardeners through the program to show them how to secure the electric models. Gardeners will be able to get 70 percent off from a new California state program and up to an additional $500 will come from RP.
One RP Clean Air member wrote, “For most Palisades gardeners, leaf blowers are an integral part of their business.
“They tell us the number one reason they want to switch to battery powered equipment is health,” the RP member said and noted that the biggest hurdles gardeners have in making the switch is:
1) Calculating the number of batteries, they need to carry them through their workday.
2) High upfront cost of equipment and batteries.
Resilient Palisades Clean Air and Water Team’s approach is to provide support from AGZA’s landscape zero emissions experts to determine how many batteries the gardeners need to run their business profitably.
The RP Gas Free Gardens team is working to offset the biggest barrier, cost, by taking advantage of programs like CORE, and also, asking homeowners to pitch in and help offset the cost of electric equipment as well.
Residents can share the flyer (below) and guide gardeners in helping to make the switch to electric.
Fantastic idea – would like to hear the result of this meeting. Also would ask Resilient Palisades to plan a few more of these (giving plenty of notice for dates/times in 2023)and see if various condo association boards can send their gardeners to upcoming demonstrations.