Do You Know Why Burning Fallen Tree Leaves is Detrimental & Injurious to our Health?

Tree leaves falling in changing seasons-- especially post winters and in autumn seasons-- is a common phenomenon. The trees shed their leaves in whole or in part, where-after new set of leaves and flowers adorn them, following mother nature's cycle.

Image source wn.com

The leaves fall on the ground, roofs, parks, roads, pathways and almost everywhere. While locations in the country-side seldom get affected by this natural phenomenon, the urban counterparts witness a herculean task of cleaning & disposing off this blanket of fallen leaves. The usual practice followed the world over is to sweep the leaves, make piled-up mounds of them, and then burn them.

While this seemingly is a solution to a common man, or even municipal staffs; but this is certainly an act that is more of a harmful practice than a simple solution.

Know why? 

Because, burning of the semi-dried & moisture-laden fallen leaves create humongous amounts of smoke, which in turn is laden with deadly cocktail of unburnt carbon particles, soot, strong displeasing odour, besides dangerous carbon-monoxide gas that can prove life threatening also in case the amounts of it is raised beyond the permissible limits in human blood stream, lungs and heart.

The smoke produced upon burning of the leaves is highly obnoxious and pollutes the air in the immediate vicinity as well as several meters & miles away too. The particulates and carbon particles carried with the smoke and polluted air can result in several allergies and breathing problems to humans, while high intake of resulting carbon-monoxide gas can even put someone's life in danger too.

So, what to do, if not burn fallen dried leaves?

Of course fallen leaves need to be cleared-off so as to make the place cleaner and tidier. Simpler solution to adopt and practice being:

• by getting them collected through local, municipal or assigned agencies and then decomposing them with suitable process technologies at large as well as small scales, whereby natural 'Compost' can be made that can be used as manure.
  
• by controlled shredding of the collected loads of fallen leaves along with suitable decomposing agents mechanically/ semi-mechanically which can be used to produce 'Mulch' for lawns, gardens and parks.
  
• collecting and dumping loadsful of such fallen dried/ semi-dried leaves in large landfills, dumping yards, etc. where the leaves can decompose by themselves undergoing seasonal action of rains, summers, et.al.
  
• by burning them in incinerators (with stacks of stipulated design and heights) in a controlled, calculated and professional way.

A government advertisement spreading awareness of not burning fallen tree leaves

So, the next time you see someone burning the fallen leaves, try to educate them not to do so. Once all are aware of the ill effects of burning fallen tree leaves, this malpractice shall reduce significantly with the help of peer-to-peer coordination and self regulation, rather than the current law enforcements, penalties and fines by municipal and government bodies the world over.

Spread the word. Share this with your friends, colleagues, children, etc. as better & wise knowledge only can help restrain this ill practice of burning fallen tree leaves which is nothing but totally detrimental to human wellness.

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