Yard work cleaned up

The filthiest, most polluting, most awful thing in your home is not your kid's hard drive. It's your lawn and garden equipment, which is, even as you read this, outgassing carcinogens into the atmosphere as a result of a charming process called "evaporative emissions." Millions of these atmospheric cesspools are stewing away in garages and tool sheds across the state, venting volatile organic compounds into California's already troubled skies. And that's before you even pull the string to start them. Ick.

By DAN NEIL

May 2, 2009