On March 17, 2024, the Green Acton Board of Directors agreed to endorse the Town Meeting Warrant Article on gas leaf blower phase-out, and approved this statement to be read at Town Meeting (which begins on Monday, May 6):
The Board of Directors of Green Acton, Acton’s nonprofit environmental advocacy group, endorses this warrant article, and urges Town Meeting members to vote in favor of it. Gas-powered leaf blowers produce harmful amounts of noise, climate-damaging greenhouse gases, and toxic, air-polluting particulates. Battery-powered leaf blowers, which do none of those things, are now readily available, including professional-grade versions. Thus, many nearby towns, and regions around the country, have begun phasing out the use of gas-powered leaf blowers.
Approval of this article would enable Acton to take similar action, which would be responsible to both human health and the climate emergency — the latter having been declared in 2020 by a vote of Acton Town Meeting. Green Acton also calls for a future bylaw that would phase out the use of all gas-powered leaf blowers, on both public and private property, so all Acton residents can live healthier lives.