Oh, its a beautiful day,, lets burn leaves

reply to post by Philodemus


So you have a different definition of pollution then the rest of the world?

You could go over to your neighbor's and talk to him....

Maybe offer to bag his leaves for him instead of burning them the next time it is needed.

I like the smell of burning leaves, but I would have to do what I suggested if it were me. My wife
has damaged lungs and smoke could trigger a hospital episode.

Still...try talking to your neighbor...it'd be more productive than talking to us ATS'ers. I know the
currently chic thing is to involve police and firemen and county and city officials in stuff like this
...but I like the old school way myself...seems so much easier and less time consuming

Originally posted by PrplHrt
Do you know what is missing here? What all your "information" has done for you?
It has destroyed the simple joy of living.
Rake the leaves with dad. Let's have a bonfire in the backyard. It's an ancient rite, fire is. On a cool fall day you stand around a smoky pile and talk about school or football and together you enjoy the warmth.

Ah yes, the good old days. The joy of simple living.Darn it! Why can't we use immigrant children to work 12 hours a day in factories anymore? And force African Americans to sit in the back of the bus. Sigh..
Where women were not allowed to attend college if they were engaged or married,and the only socially acceptable job was being a housewife. So you got to get married at 20 and start pumping out kids.Whether you wanted too or not.
Oh those days, where kids had to constantly participate in drills where they hid under the desks under the threat of the cold war.
The only people who lament the good ol days are white guys.
I have spent more then my fair share of time outdoors, and I never sat around a barrel full of burning leaves. lol!
Yup, you can't have a chat about football around a wood fire, it has to be leaves!
I certainly don't equate burning leaves with the simple life. We take walks around the neighborhood, sit on a rocker on the porch, and go and have picnics. And get ice cream on Friday nights.

Enjoy your knowledge of particulates and smoke inhalation and carcinogens and lung cancer and whatever else is rattling around in that packed head of yours. Enjoy the "knowledge".

Someone seriously needs to read: "Who Moved My Cheese". It is about dealing with change.

Funny how people lament that people were nicer then. That people took care of each other. but yet revolt when you tell them that something is bad for air quality,bad for the environment, and bad for their neighbor's health.

"We should be able to create carcinogins just becuase I like it!!"

Even if there weren't chemicals, the leaves are covered with mold. I have also heard horror stories of people ending up in the hospital because a moron couldn't tell a tree leaf from poison ivy, and burning poison ivy is dangerous.

I have raked plenty of leaves with my kid without an insatiable impulse to burn them.
You know what is the simple life?
We compost stuff. Then every spring, when I start my vegetable garden, my kid learns how life breaks down into soil. We use that soil in the garden. He gets to learn how gardening works, he knows where food comes from, and it is not the grocery store. We add worms and learn why they are needed. He loves picking strawberries and peas from the vine. We get our milk from the dairy, delivered in glass bottles, do you?? Once I got heavy dairy cream and we made ice cream with the strawberries that we grew. It was divine! This weekend we will go to the farm and pick apples.
THAT is the simple life.

So yes, my kid gets to learn AND I don't have to poison him with carbon monoxide and give him black lung from smoke. We save the fires for camping. And he learns about conservation, instead of everything being useless and disposable.Which will define the older generations, since we are cleaning up the messes that they made with this line of thinking. Thank God it is dying out.

Life must be a blast at your house. No candy, all vegetables and the toilet is always yellow.

My kid will tell you that I am the coolest parent in the world.
I would take him to the river to swing on a 2 story rope swing till it was cut down. We go explore abandoned buildings, where the kids break the law and trespass, but have to wear masks because of all the asbestos. Yup, those good ol buildings full of asbestos and lead.
My kid eats plenty of candy, because he also eats vegetables willingly because he has the satisfaction and pride at growing them himself. I guess we should of just burned stuff instead. If he does his homework without a fuss, he gets a Hershey Bar.
It is those buildings and the pollution of previous generations that cause so much cancer now. My bff's father died a long and horrible death as a result of agent orange. My grandfather and his brothers died of lung cancer from working in refineries as kids. The age 18 smoking restriction wasn't set till the 1980s. There is also higher incidence now because of better education, better detection, and more people having access to health care.
And yes, when you live on septic, if it is yellow you let it mellow. Funny how a generation that harps on family values, thinks that one of them should be waste and pollution, instead of conserving what you have.The depression era folks could give you a lesson.

So why are people raking leaves in the first place? Because they want their yards to look nice.Fact is, if you really wanted a nice lawn, and NOT destroy the evironment, leave the leaves. Nature's way of fertilizing for billions of yea

reply to post by davidmann


No, you call them. Doesn't mean they will necessarily come out. They will check to see if there is a permit, or inform you of what the restrictions are. (many places don't allow burning in the summer because of ozone)
They may check it out, if it goes on for more then a day or two, they might do something.

reply to post by rival


This is a good idea. It just really depends on the neighbor. The thread starter will have to judge that. If you have the kind of neighbor with a bunch of motorcycles, shot guns and a hellraisers jacket, think twice.

Burning leaves smell delicious.

Smoke from leaves is not hurting anything besides the occasional sinus'.

reply to post by Lil Drummerboy


I understand your point and if you don't want to burn any leaves, well feel good about being more environmentally friendly than people that do burn leaves. That's probably how I would feel too but, this is where it goes too much over the left side of the line...

You can recommend to not do it but you can't force everyone unless you go to your mayor or the assigned person to do the job of taking your demand for a law, make a petition, get enough names and ask for a vote on the law...this is all too extreme and feels like an overall waste of time to me.

Up to a certain point, it's less stressful to live and let live in those situations in my opinion.

This was more about burning leaves in general,.
the whole concept is just dumb,.
and really,. if your gonna do it,.. at least make a fire that will burn the leaves
not smolder and choke out all living creatures in the area..