When they first came onto the market, leaf blowers were amazing! Just think of the time savings and think how wonderful your yard and driveway would look! Cow-a-bunga! Incredible! Just a few minutes outside and whoosh, all the leaves and dirt and debris is gone from your area. And, I must admit, they are kind of a kick to use. We bought a small one to use for our minuscule yard several years ago and it was fun to blow around the dirt and leaves and try to corral it all into one place. We would have contests to see who got the most dirt into the smallest pile without blowing it all away again. THEN we would suck it all up into our handy dandy "blow or vac" container. Yes, we chose a leaf blower that also had the ability to gather the dirt, dust, debris and leaves into its container at the end so that we could dispose of it efficiently.We appear to be in the minority of people who actually want to get rid of the crap that comes with having a driveway or yard. NOW blowers have become standard equipment for every "mow and blow", "landscaping-R-us", corporate "must stay pretty", apartment project "keep the tenants happy" company that has a driveway, garage, yard, or anything else that comes into contact with the natural world. No longer are these people concerned with actually taking away the debris or dirt or leaves. It's all blow it away which seems to mean: get it out of your driveway and into the street, get it out of your yard and into someone else's yard, blow it away from you and who cares where it goes! I watch people using these blower machines and am dismayed that once again, we have invented something that harms the environment, causes way too much noise, totally loses all sense of being a good neighbor, and generally does nothing at all.I have lived in two apartment complexes in Houston since returning here in January. One of the complexes started its blowing every other day at 7 a.m. What the hey! It's impossible to sleep with someone using a blower outside of your window. And every other day? My gosh, I never realized what a dirty place it was. The place where I am living now is close to the medical center. While they don't turn on the blowers every other day, they do keep the driveways clean which means blowing the dirt, dust, debris, and leaves into the street. Gosh, how to tell them that the minute they stop blowing, the cars are bringing it right back into the garage as the dust and dirt settle on the cars and the leaves are scattered back into the air and float back into the garage. My car is in constant need of a wash.It's not just the apartment complexes either. Every day when I go walking, I will encounter at least two blowers working somewhere, either a hospital or an apartment or a house. It always means they are blowing everything into the street where it swirls around and comes to rest on their neighbors house/yard/driveway or in the public street, or in some cases, is blown into the storm drains. I would be quite angry if I went out and swept my driveway and raked my yard only to have my neighbors fill it up again with their blown away crap.So, I believe that leaf blowers are bad for the environment. I am quite thankful I don't have a dust or pollen allergy. Once the blowers start in Jan or so, I'd be hard pressed to open a window or walk outside without hitting someone's blown dust. There seems to be a chest high haze in most of the city as the dust from the blowers swirls around and then settles again, pretty much close to where it started. People have become incredibly lazy that they must use these blowers and then don't even bother to clean up the mess after themselves. The attitude seems to be "blow it onto someone else's property then my property is clean and it's not my problem anymore". And since dust and debris and leaves blow around courtesy of any wind, there is a constant need to keep doing it over and over again. An interesting survey might be to compare number of leaf blowers sold versus number of brooms and rakes sold in recent years. Also include in that survey the amount of dust particulates in a city where leaf blowers have grown in use against areas where they aren't. I'm sure there is an agency out there somewhere willing to spend a whole lot of money to do this survey.