A conversation with my mother:
Me: Mom I just saw yellow flags on the grass outside. Wesleyan uses pesticides.
My mom: That is absolutely outrageous! Write a column about it!
Me: I don’t write about that kind of thing in my column. But you can write a wespeak.
My mom: A what? Parents can’t write editorials! I’ll send you one and you can submit it under your name. This makes me so angry I can’t tell you! Did you know on top of everything bad that pesticides do, they kill clovers.
Me: Clovers?
Mom: How are you going to have any luck in life if you can’t find any four leaf clovers?
Me: I don’t know, Mom. I don’t know…
Pesticides (this includes insecticides, herbicides and fungicides – all used on lawns and turf) are linked to cancers, neurological disease, fertility problems and asthma. They are banned in Scandinavian countries and many parts of Canada. It is perfectly possible to have beautiful lawns without dangerous chemicals. In fact lawns have been around for more than 150 years. Chemicals are a relatively recent arrival. There are many resources for organic lawn care. The best one is right down the road here in Connecticut –the Organic Lawn Project of Connecticut NOFA (Northeast Farming Association). It is an absolute outrage that, of all places, college campuses allow these toxic products to be cavalierly spread on lawns.
College kids actually sit, lie, roll and xxxx on lawns, so they are coming into direct contact with the chemicals. How many of us will have cancers or fertility problems later in life?? A lot more than our grandparent’s generation. These health problems are all on the rise and there is certainly an environmental cause. Lawn Chemicals must go!! Who cares if there are dandelions on our lawns? We like making dandelion chains anyway.
A quick googling of “Pesticides, Human Health, Environment” will open the eyes of anyone who looks.
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