Americans spread MILLIONS of tons of toxic lawn chemicals in their yards every year. Obsessed with eliminating every pest, every weed, they ignore the fact that they are exposing their children and pets to POISON.
Advocating non-chemical remedies, I have never put chemicals down, and never will. I know too much. I’ve never really understood the obsession Americans have about having the perfect lawn. My lawn is green, I mow it, and that’s IT. Why poison yourself, your kids and the eco-system for a lawn?
I worked for Lowe’s in the garden center for 5 years. Each week I’d watch thousands of pounds of poison go out the door in this one store. People were fanatical about their lawns and didn’t even think about what they were doing! A common, and especially toxic product, 2-4-D is found in the popular brand WEED-B-GONE.
Ironically, part of my job was to sell lawn care products. I hated it. It went against everything I believe in. I’m an environmentalist and I jokingly refer to chemicals as being ‘against my religion.’ I would always opt for pitching the lowest toxicity remedy.
One day a man came in with his three children in tow, their approximate ages being 7, 5 and 3. He wanted Diazinon. I said it’s been banned for almost 10 years now, but the replacement was Triazicide. We walked over to where the bags were stacked and I answered his questions.
During the conversation, one of the kids started smacking the bag of Triazicide with her hand, like petting a big dog on the head. The father jumped forward, yanked the kid’s hand away and shouted,
“DON’T TOUCH THAT, it’s POISON!”
I wanted to reply in a calm but sarcastic voice…..
“Yes, it’s POISON and you’re going to take it home, spread it on your lawn and then your kids and dog are going to go out and play in it!”
Children are especially susceptible to illness resulting from pesticide exposure. Instead of rehashing the articles, I’ve included links below.
ALL lawn chemicals like TRIAZICIDE, WEED-B-GONE are DANGEROUS - PERIOD! (no, you can’t use them on your veggie gardens, folks!)
Not only are these substances dangerous for children, but they are dangerous for adults, pets and the environment. It’s time to end the love affair with toxins because the health of your family - and the planet - depends on it.
You can help speed the detox process by taking a detox bath on a regular basis, doing juice fasts and getting more exercise and having a regular massage. This will help eliminate toxins from your body.
WHAT’S ON YOUR LAWN?
Is the health of your lawn more important than the health of your children?
Every single aspect of our lives has in it artificial components of plastic, out-gassing (fumes) or toxins of some sort. The sad part about this is that the entire population of this world had no say - and is totally unaware that manufacturers, food producers, agribusiness and technology has contributed to it every day.
Chemicals surround us. Our computers are made from plastics which release chemicals into our environment. If we’ve sworn off caffeine, and drink decaf instead, chances are we’re getting a good dose of chemicals from the decaffeination process. Got that suit back from the cleaners? Guess what it’s been cleaned with? Dry cleaning fluid=chemicals.
If your kids play sports like football or soccer they’re probably rolling around on turf treated with herbicides, pesticides and other toxic lawn chemicals. Additionally, children are especially at risk for health-related illness from pesticide residues.
Think you’re safe at work? Your company probably has a contract with an extermination service and sometimes you’re even sitting at your desk when the guy comes through with the little sprayer tank! Millions of Americans go to work in environments chocked full of chemicals: manufacturing facilities with dust and fumes from chemicals, heavy metals, plastic compounds, cleaning solutions, paints, glues and pesticides. Even if your job does not put you in direct or daily contact, you are still at risk.
WHAT TO DO?
DETOX and eat the cleanest diet that you can. Make every meal a high quailty one of fresh (organic) foods, filtered water. Replace the toxins you introduce into your body in your own home with organic personal care products.
Make every day count!
The Earth is talking back. She is trying to let us know we need to change our ways.
WATER USE must be one of them.
The water outlook for California and Nevada is a grim one, according to an article posted on Reuters today. With snow pack in the mountains decreasing due to climate change, consumers and farmers face the possibility of another year of shortages.
What does this mean for you? Higher food prices as supply drops.
California is one of the top food producers in the nation. Nevada, on the other hand, has experienced tremendous growth over then past 10 years and now has the nation’s highest water useage. We are in a water crisis in this country, but what can we do?
CONSERVE WATER in every aspect of your life. If you think that your water use doesn’t affect the entire Earth, think again! What you take from your tap or garden spigot has to come from somewhere. Unless you collect your own rain water, you’re drawing from the municipal supplies.
Especially if you live in an arid climate such as California, Nevada or other areas of the southwest, you absolutely should be doing whatever you can to conserve water.
COLLECT RAIN WATER - what a NOVEL idea! Our great grandparents did this. Grandma had her rain barrel and used this to wash clothes with. It was free water. Then the water was used to water the gardens with. The veggies grew better because the soap, a natural insecticide, kept bugs off.
You can do a lot to save water. Start by checking all your faucets, spigots and toilets. If they leak, fix them. One single leak can waste 200 or more gallons a day.
Use a rain barrel to collect water with. You can do a LOT with the water you collect: water your gardens, potted plants, hose off your deck, wash your car and not use any municipal water supplies doing it.
YOU CAN do your part in saving water easily and efficiently.
American consumers use millions of tons of chemical lawn and garden products a year.
As an employee in a garden center at a home improvement store for many years, I personally witnessed a frightening aspect of American life: a staggering amount of sales of toxic chemicals - thousands of pounds of the stuff went out the door every week - in just this one store!
People thought absolutely nothing of spreading and spraying toxic chemicals all over their lawns. Their concern wasn’t what it was doing to their environment -or- the potential toxicity to their children, pets and other wildlife. In what I would call their ‘fanatical desire’ to eradicate e v e r y pest and e v e r y weed, they didn’t realize they were increasing their risk to cancer & poisoning themselves, their children and the planet!
Most of them probably never read the back of the bags where it gave warnings about the product and said:
WARNING: poison!
Many of them didn’t know that these chemicals were in fact, carcinogens and endocrine disruptors which have been proven in many studies worldwide to cause cancer.
In her her highighly acclaimed book, Living Downstream - An Ecologist Looks at Cancer & the Environment, author, biologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph. D presents a frightening time line of the rise in cancer over the past 50 years.
Chemical preparations actually do more harm than good. They stress the plants out with a BIG dose of food. This creates dependency on chemicals by the plant (think drug addict!) in which they do not naturally build up their own defenses. Roots come to the surface to get the food instead of growing down into the soil. Physical damage also occurs due to infrequent or over-dosing. Granular or dust applications only deliver about 40% of the nutrients to the plant instead of over 95% with natural applications.
Then, of course, there is the environmental damage of groundwater pollution, runoff, introduction into far reaching water sources, to marine life; all of this eventually returns to us in our food!
Using organic and natural yard care products and remedies helps to protect you and the Earth for further damage caused by pesticides. Every choice YOU MAKE affects Mother Earth every day.
In the book, Anti Cancer - A New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, Phd, the author tells of two different studies on the prevalence of pesticides in children.
A researcher in Washington state conducted a series of tests on 42 children, ages 2 to 5. As families were leaving either a conventional grocery store or an organic co-op, they asked the parents if they would write down everything their children ate or drank for three days. Their diets were determined to be ‘organic’ if more than 75% of the food consumed was from organic sources; and ‘conventional’ if it wasn’t.
After measuring the amount of pesticides present in the children’s urine, she found that the amount of pesticides in the ‘organic’ children’s urine was one sixth that of the ‘conventional’ children’s levels and far below the EPA’s level of minimum exposure rate. The children on the ‘conventional’ diet had levels more than four times above the safe exposure limit set by the EPA.
The second study was done over a period of 15 days on 23 children. Their urine was tested after eating a ‘conventional’ diet for several days, and it showed the presence of pesticides. Then their diet was switched to completely organic foods. Within days, all traces of pesticides were gone from the urine samples. Upon starting on the conventional diet again, their levels quickly resumed.
Since 1940 the production of pesticides and synthetic chemicals has increased to over 150 MILLION TONS a YEAR. Much of the chemicals go into food production, personal care products, household cleaners, manufacture of common construction materials, clothing and every day items. Due to increased exposure of pesticides & synthetic chemicals, cancer rates have increased.
For more information, read the above mentioned book. It is a true eye-opener.
http://www.ewg.org/chemindex/term/447
http://www.organicconsumers.org/
http://www.cdc.gov/ExposureReport/pdf/factsheet_organochlorine.pdf
Landscape irrigation nationwide totals about 7 billion gallons a day, and accounts for one-third of all residential water use.
Saving water is crucial to the environment. The planet is at a point where humans can no longer afford to waste water, or any other resources.
Experts estimate that more than 50% of all commercial and residential water goes to waste due to evaporation, wind, improper irrigation system design or over watering.
Homeowners should monitor their outdoor water usage and make some changes to save water. A rain barrel is a great way to cut down on the amount of water your household uses. It saves electricity because there is no pump to run; it works on gravity. You aren’t using water from the municipal water supply, or, if you’re in the country, your well.
There are many different systems available, depending on your local area rainfall, or how you’d like to use your rain barrel. You can use it to create an underground watering system for your garden. Soaker hoses used in the garden save water, and your rain barrel can be attached to one. You can also use your rain barrel to water plants on your porch, deck or to hose off a sidewalk or patio. This helps save water, too!
Do you go to your local garden center and
BUY DIRT?
Why?
You can make your own compost very easily and save yourself a lot of money & won’t have to lug heavy bags by using a composter.
You have all the makings for good compost right there at home. Use grass from mowing your lawn, leaves from the fall, (which are even better if you’ve mulched them) branches and twigs cut from trees & shrubs. Add vegetable trimmings, egg shells, coffee grounds, tea bags and peels from the kitchen. Don’t forget those refrigerator experiments with the hair on them! The only exceptions that don’t go in are meat (including bones) and any dairy products. Everything else makes great compost! All you need to do is put it in a composter and the rest is done for you.
The breakdown of these materials turns into ‘brown gold’: light, fluffy and nutritious compost. Good nutrition is vital for your garden. It helps plants ward off pests and disease without using dangerous toxic chemicals and pesticides. Another benefit is you are getting FREE DIRT!
Sun-Mar has been making composters for about 30 years. They’ve used the proven technology from their best-selling composting toilets; a rotating drum. This ensures a good mixture and quick decomposition of organic materials.
Instead of using your garbage disposal, which wastes water and electricity, a composter is an earth-friendly, pest-free alternative. Outdoor rascals like dogs, cats, racoons, possums and skunks can’t get into the sealed drum.
Compost is easy to make. You’re half way there every time you make a meal. Why not start today?