Green Options

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Having discussed one way to be compassionate in your home by safely catching a fly, I feel compelled to be of even more assistance in helping you to be a kind, friendly presence outside of your own abode as well. So now that you are well practiced in the fine art of catching and caring for critters of all makes and models, I hope you are ready, willing, able, and eager to go out and practice some more random acts of kindness.

And as someone who loves gardening, from the toil of clearing a plot and weeding the rows to the belly-filling delight come harvest time, I thought I would share some tips on how you can be a compassionate, caring, careful gardener.

This is particularly important, too, since even small family gardens can become places of profound natural tragedy, places of mass murder and intensive pollution, places of blood, sweat, and tears. Ironically, gardens can often be the least “green” when the plants in them are shining with the deepest, richest shades of green.

And the main reason for these instances of terror and destruction and death? One word: VARMINTS.

Yessir, critters, pests, thieves…call them what you will. They come in many forms, and they seem to come at every moment, nibbling and draining and infesting and infecting and basically ruining everything that you plan to enjoy. Yes’m, the varmints launch a perpetual (seemingly organized and strategic) assault on your goodly little garden…and so appropriate countermeasures surely seem justified.

But, alas, most of these countermeasures employed on any scale are far from careful, far from compassionate, and extremely far from sustainable or natural or eco-friendly. Just go into any garden center or hardware store and look at the panoply of pesticides, sitting there as an ingredient in a witches’ brew with other chemical fertilizers and enhancers. You may start to feel dizzy even before opening one and inhaling the fumes!

So, then, how can you make your garden green in the healthiest, most sustainable and ecologically friendly ways? How can you be a careful gardener and a small-scale steward on your own little plot? How can you save lives even as you nourish your and your family’s (and maybe even your whole neighborhood’s!) lives? Here are just a few ways you can garden green to get a green garden.

I’ve long had a theory that many people enjoy golf because of the picturesque surroundings of the typical golf course. Wooded areas, rolling hills, green grass, lakes and ponds, rivers and creeks, sand…sadly, it is the closest that many people will get to “nature”, and the longest chunk of time many are willing to spend outdoors. And although it is beautiful to behold–the average golf course maintains it’s beauty with a high dose of toxic chemicals–not to mention the enormous consumption of water (approx 18 million gallons per course per year), the clearcutting of woodlands and fields, and the loss of animal sanctuaries.
More and more golfers, hackers, and non-golfers are becoming aware of the environmental damage one golf course can have on its surroundings. In the case of George Prior and his family the article “Poisoned Fairways” points out how they learned the hardest way:

In August 1982, after a few rounds of golf at the Army Navy Country Club outside Washington, D.C., Navy Lt. George Prior, an athletic, healthy, 30-year-old Navy flight officer, developed an odd rash on his back and began suffering flu-like symptoms. He checked himself into Bethesda Naval Hospital, where his body soon began to burn from the inside out. His internal organs started failing, blisters bubbled on his skin. After slipping into a coma, he died within days. A Navy forensic pathologist concluded that Prior had died as a result of a severe allergic reaction to Daconil 2787, a fungicide that had been sprayed on the course.

Of course, this is an extreme case, but one that can be tracked to its source (mainly because Mr. Prior was in the armed forces and received a detailed autopsy) unlike many other similar, though less violent, cases. However, most chemicals don’t have such an immediate effect on the golfer or the environment, but the end result of prolonged exposure may be the same. Golf course pesticides and herbicides have been linked to repiratory problems, serious skin irritations, nausea, and cancer.

Change is on the horizon.

Neighborhood associations have applied pressure to keep golf courses (and the surrounding neighborhoods) chemical free. Models have joined to help keep pesticides off the shelves. And, organic golf courses are beginning to pop up.

In my home town of St. Louis, Missouri one company–Keeper of the Green–is helping golf courses create the same beauty and durability while using environmentally friendly products.

Join Chic for a Cause : Stop the Spray ~ Our Body, Our Decision   

What? A fashion fundraiser to grow awareness about opposing the harmful effects of the aerial spraying of pesticides. When? May 30, 2008 Where? Muse Studios, 224 6th St. San Francisco, CA 94103 Time? 6-9 pm Admission? $10 Why? To stop the “Light Brown Apple Moth program” which is really a toxin dump on California! 

Last fall a pesticide was dumped on Californians that included ingredients that are carcinogens, mutagens as well as other toxic chemicals in microcapsules that reach deep lung tissue. Soon after spraying in 2007, 600 plus reports of illness were recorded such as respiratory distress, nausea and vomiting, as well as serious skin irritations. Now the spray is back and we need to take a stand! Sign the petition, participate in events if possible, and please help educate others.

The following ten stories, organized by region, made international headlines from April 27 to May 4 for their impact on the environment and society. For more stories that changed the world, see our archive, here.

North American Environmental News

CANADA — Ontario Bans Lawn and Garden Pesticides

Canada has proven once again that it is way ahead of the rest of world with its progressive government. Ontario has banned the use and sale of lawn and garden pesticides for homeowners. Quebec instituted a similar ban on 20 some pesticide products back in 2006.

The new ban is set to take effect by spring of 2009. Home Depot has already agreed to stop selling the pesticides by the end of 2008! This is a huge victory for anti-toxic supporters all over the continent. If only someone in the United States government could take such affirmative action we could all be spared. Ontario will basically phase out some 80 different chemicals and over 300 products that contain them.

Continue reading this article at the Environmental Blog. Join the discussion about this article at Care2.

Ontario plans to ban the use and sale of garden pesticides; that equates to over 300 products and 70 chemicals.  Unfortunately, golf courses, farms, and forests will be exempt. Home Depot has already pulled garden pesticides from their shelves in Ontario.

Sources:  The Globe and Mail, 

Did you know that there are 80,000 synthetic chemicals registered for use in the United States? As a green parent, the mama bear in me comes out and I feel the need to protect my children from the effects of such chemicals. In the past, I have relied on the website Healthy Child Healthy World for information. Now there is a book by this leading children’s environmental nonprofit that is clearly the definitive source on “creating a cleaner, greener, safer home.”
Healthy Child Healthy World is written by Christopher Gavigan and features a star studded line up of contributors, including Sheryl Crow, Michelle Obama, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Hanks, Laura Dern, etc.  The book is divided into ten chapters, from “Doing the Bump: Preparing for Baby” to “It’s All Good:  How to Grow Your Impact.”  Filled with easy steps and simple solutions, Healthy Child Healthy World helps parents rid their homes of chemicals that may cause or contribute to the rise of chronic diseases and illness, such as autism and ADD/ADHD.

After recent reports that pesticides are present in children’s urine and saliva, Humboldt County, CA sheriffs have arrested Gina and Louis Mays for feeding their children commercially grown food.  This is the first such case in the country that accuses parents of neglect and abuse for not feeding their children organically grown food.  The Mays are facing a stiff fine, and their two young children may be removed from the home.

Humboldt County Child Protective Services Director Tina Moore stated, “Any aspect of a child’s life that threatens their well being and health is a concern of our agency. We will not sit by docilely as parents poison their children.”  Ironically, the accused parents have an organically grown medical marijuana garden, but they had not considered the effects of pesticides on their own children’s health.  Accused mother Gina Mays said, “We thought that if we bought our children food at the grocery store it would be safe. We had no idea how dangerous commercially grown produce was to our little ones.” 

I am a firm believer that nothing but the purest ingredients should go into and onto a baby’s body. The I Dream Baby line available from buygreen.com is natural and mostly organic, giving parents the peace of mind that they are not using products on their little ones that contain known carcinogens. You don’t have to be a baby to enjoy these products!

Wildcrafted and Handmade in Northern California

The I Dream Baby gift set comes with one bottle of baby wash and shampoo (7 oz.), one bottle of baby lotion (7 oz), and one bottle of baby oil (3 oz). The products contain a “thoughtful, soothing blend of organic, wildcrafted or sustainably grown therapeutic grade essential oils.” These blends smell so good, and the bottles are recyclable aluminum, which makes this plastic avoiding mother happy.

Do you take your kids to the park? Sign them up for soccer or softball? Parents who care about their children’s health likely encourage outdoor play and participation in organized sports. In the spring, as we begin to shop for soccer cleats and baseball mitts; it is wise to investigate how your schools and municipalities manage their green spaces.

Pesticide exposure is a serious health risk to children. And while limiting, or better yet, eliminating ingested pesticides is important, consider the direct exposure your children may get while they play upon that green, green grass.

Only mothers can sit around talking about their children’s diapers and toilet learning behaviors in “normal” conversation. Now they can add the presence of pesticides in their children’s eliminations to their discussions.

A new, peer-reviewed study has found in children’s urine and saliva organophosphates, a family of pesticides spawned by the creation nerve-gas in WWII. How did it get there? Conventionally grown food.

The study was conducted for a year on Mercer Island, Washington, involving 21 children from ages three to eleven. Amazingly, once the children switched to eating only organically-grown food, the presence of pesticides was eliminated from their body fluids in eight to 36 hours. Principal author of the study and Emory University professor Chensheng Lu explains:

Last week I wrote about how the Chicago nonprofit Safer Pest Control Project has been working to protect people from the harmful effects of toxic pesticides. In talking with the organization’s Executive Director, Rachel Rosenberg, I learned about how common it is for people to be exposed to chemical pesticides in public places without being aware, and how dangerous this can be for children.

But even more insidious than the harm posed by toxins used to rid our homes and workplaces of unwanted critters is the problem of chemical pesticides used to control outdoor pests. In fact, the use of chemicals to kill animals and plants in our yards is a lot more widespread than you may have guessed. Consider these statistics cited by the Safer Pest Control Project:

• 78 million households in the U.S. use home and garden pesticides.
• $700 million are spent annually on pesticides for U.S. lawns.
• 67 million pounds of synthetic pesticides are used on U.S. lawns each year.
• Three times as much pesticide is used on lawn per acre than on agricultural crops.