Archive for the 'Lawns/Landscapes' Category
04
Aug
(Beyond Pesticides, August 4, 2010) Several coastal towns in Maine, concerned about water contamination and the potential for the effects on aquatic life, have adopted restrictions on lawn chemicals. Pesticide opponents praise towns for cutting back on pesticide use but say that a ban on private use would make a bigger difference.
Ogunquit is among [...]
Posted in Lawns/Landscapes, Maine | No Comments »
16
Jul
(Beyond Pesticides, July 16, 2010) Under pressure from the grassroots group Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT), the city of Anchorage canceled plans to spray the herbicides 2,4-D and dicamba on the Town Square Park citing concerns over the safety of children playing in the park. ACAT members attended the Anchorage Assembly public meeting with [...]
Posted in 2,4-D, Alaska, Chemicals, Dicamba, Lawns/Landscapes, State/Local | No Comments »
09
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 9, 2010) Residents of New York now have new assistance in maintaining beautiful, green lawns, plants and trees without the use of toxic chemicals. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has initiated the ‘Be Green Organic Yard NY” program, where participating ‘Be Green’ businesses agree to avoid synthetic pesticides and [...]
Posted in Lawns/Landscapes, New York | 2 Comments »
21
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 21, 2010) Governor Patterson of New York signed the Child Safe Playing Field Act into law on Tuesday, marking a huge victory for grassroots environmental and human health groups. The law helps to protect children by banning the use of pesticides on school playing fields and play grounds. Schools will have one [...]
Posted in Children/Schools, Lawns/Landscapes | No Comments »
17
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 17, 2010) The City of Evanston in Cook County, Illinois has passed a resolution to reduce pesticide use on City-owned and leased property (buildings and grounds) when the City Council unanimously adopted the “Sustainable Pest Control and Pesticide Reduction Policy” on April 26, 2010. The policy requires City employees, agents and contractors [...]
Posted in Illinois, Lawns/Landscapes | No Comments »
12
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 12, 2010) Disturbed to learn that an advisory committee in his community in Boulder, Colorado had approved two new herbicides for use on city parks, a 9-year-old environmental activist organized a group of some two dozen children to protest the potential use of the herbicides in front of the Boulder County Courthouse [...]
Posted in Children/Schools, Colorado, Lawns/Landscapes | 3 Comments »
10
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 10, 2010) The environmentally friendly ladybug is alive and well in Ocean Township, New Jersey, thanks to a newly adopted Township resolution that declares parks, playgrounds, and fields as “Pesticide Free Zones;” requires Township property to be managed with Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a program that manages and prevents pests using environmental [...]
Posted in Lawns/Landscapes, New Jersey | No Comments »
21
Apr
Update: UPDATE (May 6, 2010): Assemblymember Steven Englebright (D-Setauket) today announced passage of the Child Safe Playing Fields Act (A 7937-C) that would prohibit the use of toxic pesticides on school and daycare center playgrounds, turf, athletic and playing fields and called upon the Governor to sign the bill as quickly as possible. The state [...]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Children/Schools, Lawns/Landscapes | 2 Comments »
07
Apr
(Beyond Pesticides, April 7, 2010) Although the city stopped using chemical pesticides in much of its public spaces nearly four decades ago, village officials expect to pass a resolution prohibiting their use on public property, including parks, fields and playgrounds. The hope is that the local law, once publicized, will have a trickle-down effect on [...]
Posted in Lawns/Landscapes, New Jersey | 1 Comment »
05
Apr
(Beyond Pesticides, April 5, 2010) Baseball should be green, not sending a toxic green message to homeowners. The first pitch of the new baseball season will be thrown this week under a cloud created by Major League Baseball’s (MLB) new partnership with Scotts Miracle-Gro, which promotes seed and treatment products that are unnecessarily chemical-intensive and [...]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Lawns/Landscapes | No Comments »
23
Mar
(Beyond Pesticides, March 23, 2010) On March 22, 2010 the environmental health group Grassroots Environmental Education released a report comparing the relative costs of maintaining a typical high school football field using a chemical-intensive program and a natural (organic) program over a five-year period. The report, prepared for members of the New York State [...]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Lawns/Landscapes | 6 Comments »
16
Mar
(Beyond Pesticides, March 16, 2010) The New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a measure last week to study the passage of a bill, HB 1456, that would establish a New Hampshire General Court committee to study the use of pesticides and their alternatives in areas where children may be exposed. Yes, that’s right; they passed [...]
Posted in Lawns/Landscapes, National Politics, New Hampshire | 1 Comment »
15
Mar
(Beyond Pesticides, March 15, 2010) A coalition of environmental groups is chastising in a letter to Major League Baseball its new alliance with Scotts Miracle-Gro because it says the chemical and seed company undermines sound environmental values by promoting turf management programs that are unnecessarily chemical-intensive. Scotts introduced newly branded products, which it will promote [...]
Posted in Lawns/Landscapes | 1 Comment »
25
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 25, 2010) To include more grassroots activists and community members in Greening the Community: Green economy, organic environments and healthy people, Beyond Pesticides announced a new $25 “recession rate.” The conference, Beyond Pesticides’ 28th National Pesticide Forum, will be held April 9-10 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. To take [...]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Chemicals, Disease/Health Effects, Environmental Justice, Events, Invasive Species, Lawns/Landscapes, Ohio, State/Local, Water | No Comments »
05
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 5, 2010) While there are many great reasons for “green” spaces in urban areas, a new study has found that conventional landscaping practices are actually causing greenhouse gas emissions at a rate up to four times greater than the lawn’s ability to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. The study, [...]
Posted in Climate Change, Lawns/Landscapes | No Comments »
12
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 12, 2010) Beyond Pesticides, along with Case Western Reserve University Medical School’s Swetland Center for Environmental Health and the local grassroots group Beyond Pesticides Ohio, will be hosting Greening the Community, the 28th National Pesticide Forum, April 9-10, 2010 in Cleveland, OH. This national environmental conference will focus on pesticide-free lawns and [...]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Chemicals, Children/Schools, Disease/Health Effects, Events, Lawns/Landscapes, Ohio, Water | 1 Comment »
19
Oct
(Beyond Pesticides, October 19, 2009) The “green” movement continues to sprout throughout New Jersey, as Hamilton Township joins other municipalities in the state that have made their parks pesticide-free zones and have adopted an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program for managing town property. Responding to the request of local members of the New Jersey Environmental [...]
Posted in Lawns/Landscapes, New Jersey, Pesticide Regulation | 3 Comments »
06
Oct
(Beyond Pesticides, October 6, 2009) What started as a one-acre pilot project and grew into a 16-acre test, is now going to be taking over the entire Harvard University campus grounds. Harvard has committed to managing its entire 80-acre campus with pesticide-free, natural, organic lawn and landscape management strategies, all the while saving tens of [...]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Lawns/Landscapes | 2 Comments »
11
Aug
(Beyond Pesticides, August 11, 2009) Carrboro, NC, the site of Beyond Pesticides’ 27th National Pesticide Forum, is the latest town to join the list of states and communities employing goats for nontoxic weed control. Communities across the nation, from Maryland to Wyoming to California, are discovering that grazing goats is a great option for land [...]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Invasive Species, Lawns/Landscapes | No Comments »
01
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 1, 2009) Many believe that nature’s best weed control is goats and that is why the Maryland Department of Transportation, town of Heampstead, New York, Google Corporate office campus in Mountain View, California, Mesa, Arizona Utilities Department and City of Cheyenne, Wyoming are putting goats to work this spring. Whether its 5 [...]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Arizona, California, Disease/Health Effects, Invasive Species, Lawns/Landscapes, Maryland, State/Local, Wyoming | 1 Comment »
21
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 21, 2009) The Connecticut and Illinois legislatures have passed bills increase the protection of children at day care centers from toxic lawn chemicals. While providing different degrees of protection, both bills, which build on their existing state school pesticide laws, passed with overwhelming support in both chambers of their General Assembly. The [...]
Posted in Children/Schools, Connecticut, Illinois, Lawns/Landscapes, Pesticide Regulation | No Comments »
11
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 11, 2009) The Maine advocacy group, Citizens for a Green Camden, has been presented with a 2009 Environmental Merit Award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in recognition of their significant contributions to environmental awareness and problem solving. This group of concerned citizens works “to make their community a better and [...]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Lawns/Landscapes, Maine | No Comments »
04
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 4, 2009) Targeting areas frequented by children, such as playgrounds, picnic areas, baseball fields, campgrounds, beaches, and hiking trails, New York Governor David A. Paterson announced an initiative to substantially reduce pesticide use throughout the State park system. “New York has a magnificent State park system that is a tremendous resource for [...]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Children/Schools, Disease/Health Effects, Lawns/Landscapes, New York | No Comments »