Could
the quest for the perfect lawn be harming our environment?
There is a growing body of research, which suggests that
many of the lawn and garden practices in our neighborhoods
are a threat to health and the local environment.
Some products used on lawns can contain
poisons such as arsenic. Other chemical substances such
as weed killers and fertilizers can pose health threats
to infants, children, pregnant women, and people with weak
immune systems. Very often these harmful chemicals wash
into lakes and streams, degrading water quality and harming
wildlife. At other times, dangerous substances find their
way onto our dinner table through compost applied to food
plants. Unfortunately, just because a product can be sold
commercially in the U.S. does not guarantee its safety.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported
that most registered pesticides have not been adequately
tested to determine their overall effects on people and
environments.
Another problem is that gas-powered lawn
mowers produce greenhouse gases, which can harm the ozone
layer, contribute to acid rain and smog, and cause a host
of human health and environmental problems, such as damage
to lungs and wildlife habitat.
There are, however, a number of strategies
that states and municipalities have used to make lawn care
more “green.”
Legislation
California
Chaptered in 2002, AB
2356 requires the California Department of Pesticide
Regulation (DPR) to take actions that address the problems
resulting from the presence of clopyralid and other herbicides
in compost comprised of yard waste and other organic materials.
The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality
Management District’s program, Mowdown
Air Pollution, offers local residents the opportunity
to trade in old, operable gasoline-powered lawn mowers and
purchase new, cordless, rechargeable electric mulching lawn
mowers at a substantial discount. Mulching mowers promote
water retention in lawns, which can help conserve water
during summer droughts.
Maine
LD
1944 restricts the availability of products –
such as lawn fertilizers – with excessive levels of
arsenic, a highly poisonous substance.
Minnesota
Passed in 2002, SF
1555 regulates and restricts phosphorous fertilizers;
rain washes excess fertilizers into lakes and streams where
the phosphorus can increase algae growth, which lowers water
quality and harms wildlife.
New York
A.7201 (2002) would restrict the disposal of yard waste
through burial in a landfill or by incineration. This ban
would have many benefits, like saving valuable compost and
mulch used in agriculture, conserving strained landfill
capacities, and reducing incinerator emissions of harmful
nitrogen oxides that produce smog and acid rain.
Washington
Washington State Department of Agriculture: Rule
Restricting the Use of Clopyralid – In 2002, state
authorities banned some uses of clopyralid, a chemical used
to control broadleaf plant growth, after it was linked to
compost that damaged tomato plants.
Press Clips
Press Releases
|
