Account of Participation in the October, 2001
INVENTIONS WE LOVE TO HATE
Conducted By The
The Learning Channel
Volunteer Participant: A Member of the Grassroots Organization Zero Air Pollution
Originally aired on The Learning Channel (TLC) October 17, 2001, produced by Termite Productions.
Reference to this production, as well as some interesting
facts can be found on the Internet, at the time of this writing,
Here. For a direct link to their public opinion poll, Click
Here. If those links no longer work, please let us know so we can
update to their Tech archive, which will then be linked Here.
(Or, try yourself, at http://tlc.discovery.com/guides/tech/tech.html).
Raw footage of a segment of "Inventions We Love to Hate" shows
that the difference in the time it took a grandmother to gather leaves
with a rake, as compared with an experienced gardener who used a gas
leaf blower and worked at a faster pace, was an increase of 25%. Had
the gardener worked at about the same pace, it is estimated that the
difference would have been 15%. Either of these figures is far from
the 500% increase claimed by blower supporters.
The edited segment, as it was aired, does not show specific
time differences.
It should be taken into account that this is an example
only of the leaf gathering on a dry, flat, grassy area. It is not representative
of all areas of typical residential clean up. We have no timed studies
comparing clean up of bedding and hardscape areas, or of wet leaves
and debris, with rake and broom versus a leaf blower. If you plan to
conduct such studies, contact ZAP for suggestions that will help make
them well-rounded, accurate, and unbiased. See our suggestions
for future studies. See also Account of Participation
in Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Assessment and Performance
Testing.
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