Grassroots Action
May/June 2006

Actions of the Month Coalition Signatory Campaign

Download Materials Sample Signatory Campaign Letter (word file) Declaration Declaration Backgrounder

This month, in honor of Rachel Carson’s 99th birth date (May 27), we are launching a signatory campaign to invite new organizations to join our growing Coalition. To date we have are over 600 Declaration signatories representing 43 states and Canada, and 500 citizens and organizations that have signed on to be active in our National Coalition.

We have new signatories everyday and interest in our work is growing rapidly, but we need your help in building this Coalition to further support the movement for pesticide-free lawns.

Our Goal is 1000 new signatories by the end of summer! To get there, we are asking you, our grassroots members, to invite five or more local, regional, or statewide organizations to sign the Declaration on the Use of Toxic Lawn Chemicals, and join the Coalition for Pesticide-Free Lawns. These groups can be associated with:

• environmental watershed religious community improvement garden clubs youth associations

  real estate management fishing wildlife sports or others

Below is a sample letter you can use to write or email your five groups. You can download a word version at our website under Take Action, www.pesticidefreelawns.org/actions. You can use our Backgrounder document or web resources to add additional supporting information relevant for specific groups. If you want to know if a group in your community is already signed on see Declaration Signatories.

Safe Lawn Door-Hanger Campaign Update

Our national Safe Lawn Door-Hanger Campaign has been a huge hit. Our Coalition of activists have distributed over 14,000 hangers in 36 states and Canada since the April 3rd kick-off. We have averaged about 700 hits a month to our website where visitors are downloading our resources on organic land care. The Campaign has also generated many new signatories.

Now its time to hear from you on how the distribution has gone in your community. Please send us your story for Grassroots News- tell us where you distributed the hangers and what the response has been. Email Eileen Gunn at info@beyondpesticides.org.

The campaign also provoked a major outcry from our industry counterparts who directed their representives to visit our website. We added a message to make sure that professionals in the lawn care industry understood that we are not trying to put them out of business, but rather see the movement to organic lawn care as beneficial for them as workers, and for public health and the environment.

Thank you for all your efforts to spread the word about the dangers of pesticides and the availabilty of safer alternatives for land care.