ecoyear

My new issue of the moment is pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.  With the tremendous increase in home gardening (47% if all American households, a 30% increase over last year), it suddenly becomes very important who is spraying what, when and how close to your home garden (or your friend's you get the lettuce from).

A few days ago my neighbor asked for my help in getting a petition and fact sheet together, protesting the homeowner's association use of chemicals on common HOA areas. Of course I knew this was going on, but it's one more thing, you know?

This year, however, I have seen one too many examples of herbicide drift damage on tomatoes and peppers, and I am really, once again, appalled that this is how we live. I guess if all your food comes from the supermarket, why should you worry what they spray on your lawn?

Now when I go around Boulder, I see every weed-free gravel landscaping as a toxic dump. HOAs are especially obnoxious, because they spray right where you live and doing something about it requires quite an effort. The same goes for your kids' schools. We simply consider weeds more objectionable than carcinogens. It's a case of the weed you know versus the neurotoxin you suspect but can't prove.

My parents were never lawn aficionados, having grown up in Athens, Greece. So we never sprayed. I don't remember my neighbors spraying either, so the HOAs behavior strikes me as outrageous!! I've always suspected that hotels must spray heavily - how else is it that my house is quite full of spiders and gnats, but hotel rooms are not? Daycare centers and schools are also of great concern to me.

It is easier than ever to get good information on the web. Some sites list all chemicals and their known and suspected effects (www.pesticideinfo.org), while others list what schools have done to decrease chemical use, or offer assistance with a campaign to decrease use of pesticides (www.toxicsaction.org).

But back to the top. I would never dream of spraying chemicals on the vegetables I grow, but pesticides drift, and having seen the damaged leaves, I seeing how easy it seems to be to get full disclosure of what is sprayed and when, and what the effects are believed to be, I am thinking that at least we can protect ourselves from eating contaminated leaves. There are laws after all, and it is the burden of the sprayer if damage occurs as a result of spraying.

On a different note, apparently it is now legal to collect rainwater in Colorado. It has always been legal to sell collecting devices, but apparently now you can put stuff in plain view.