You know a leaf blower when you hear it. You might even be able to smell one from afar. And if you’re close enough, you probably had to steer clear of its long nozzle blasting away clusters of leaves.
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And while they’re an annoyance to some people, they’re also a burden on the environment — enough to be banned in several Southland cities, including Pasadena. My colleague Erin Stone explores the effects of these bans in her feature for our weekly package of Climate Monday stories. While shutting out noisy, polluting leaf blowers aids the climate, it’s also left several small landscaping businesses struggling with the adjustment.
You can check out Erin’s piece here. Elsewhere for Climate Monday, our partners at Grist take a dive into the latest youth climate lawsuit, which focuses on the impacts of climate change on children. Later today, check our site for Jacob Margolis’ feature about how one of the creators of the Xbox game system is now making chocolate out of his lab in Pasadena.
(After you stop hitting snooze)
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Yes, you read that correctly. My colleague Kevin Tidmarsh examines the existence of a legion of feral cats that calls the Coliseum home — and not only that, they sort of earn their keep by keeping pests away, including rats. If you’ve been to a USC game or any other event there late enough, you might have seen them.
So, how are they … managed, so to speak? Look in the direction of Rick Halpin, who's been in charge of security at the Coliseum for about five years and has a variety of nicknames that suggest a degree of mastery over this feline, anti-pest army.
"I'm an animal lover, so it's like, I got a good job here with good people at the greatest stadium in the world," Halpin told LAist. "And I got pets, too."
You can check out the rest of Kevin’s story (yes, there are pics of the cats) here.
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