James Fallows addresses ANC3D back in November. (Photo by Rachel Kurzius)

As legislation to ban gasoline-powered leaf blowers remains under review at the D.C. Council, the group leading the charge against the machines has another project up its sleeve.

Tom Cohen, the former executive producer of game show Cash Cab, is working with members of the Concerned Wesley Heights Neighbors on a video to educate people about the harms of the two-stroke gas-powered leaf blower.

The group, led by Atlantic writer and former presidential speechwriter James Fallows, Atlantic writer Deb Fallows, and composer Haskell Small, has been making its case on listservs and in ANC meetings. They say that noise isn’t their only concern.

“The old-tech two-stroke gas engines are worse for the workers’ and community-members’ health than most people realize,” says James Fallows over email. “They’re almost unbelievably more polluting than almost any other form of gas powered equipment.”

Cohen contacted Fallows after reading about his efforts to ban the leaf blowers, and has been meeting with the Concerned Wesley Heights Neighbors for the past month and a half. “It struck a nerve with me,” says Cohen. “This is a group of people trying to do something that would make the community cleaner and quieter.”

Now the owner of Wanderlust Entertainment, Cohen says he specializes in “short, impactful films that get people talking about issues in new ways.”

He wants this leaf blower-focused short video to be “immersive and visceral. You want to be able to feel, see, breathe in the toxins. A lot of people don’t fully appreciate the health and environmental impacts of these leaf blowers. Once they get that message, it’s sort of a no brainer.”

They plan to shoot the film at the end of April and edit it within the month. While music is one of the last elements added to a film, Cohen says he hopes to use one of Haskell Small’s compositions in the video. Small, who specializes in music that his wife describes an “exploration of the silence within,” says they discussed using his piece “Lullaby of War.”

And as to the question on everyone’s mind—whether Cash Cab is ever coming to D.C.—there’s some bad news. “I would never say never to anything,” says Cohen. “But I think the Cash Cab ship has sailed.”