As I write this at 1 p.m. on the final day of January, a committee of New Jersey state senate recommended approval of a bill that, similar to New York and Connecticut, would make pesticides illegal on school grounds. The vote was 5-0 in favor. New Jersey joins Maine and New Hampshire with almost identical legislation now pending. Here are the details: The bill (S-2194) known as the Safe Playing Fields Act w ...

Check out this new video created by Brett Plymale, the director of the film A Chemical Reaction. In the short clip (1:30), Brett compile footage of lawns that are tended organically at 25 locations across North America. Next time someone tells you organic lawn care doesn't work, or means you have to settle for a sub-par lawn, show them this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHnEd4REgVE&feature=mfu_in_order ...

Earlier this week we reported on USDA research that further implicated synthetic nicotine pesticides in the widespread bee deaths that have been categorized as Colony Collapse Disorder. A report out of a major California university today reached the same conclusion: http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/jan/28/another-pesticide-link-vanishing-honeybees/ ...

[caption id="attachment_2698" align="alignleft" width="547" caption="As an crop open pollinated by the wind, genetically modified alfalfa will contaminate all pure alfalfa within five years according to scientific experts."][/caption] It's nauseatingly pathetic. I don't know how else to say it. Despite hundreds of thousands of pleas to keep a vastly destructive technology under wraps, the Obama administrati ...

PRESS RELEASE Contact: Carol Kelly (207) 210-0789 Moms, Businesses and Doctors Demand Action on Toxic Chemicals Advocates Confront Governor’s Proposed Repeal of Maine’s Chemical Safety Laws and Recognize Republican and Democratic Legislators for Ongoing Leadership AUGUSTA, MAINE — Parents, business owners, doctors, and environmental health advocates converged on the State House on Thursday to express their ...

The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine will announce its support at noon today for a new bill presented to the state legislature that would eliminate synthetic pesticides from school grounds statewide. Following the lead of Connecticut (2005) and New York (2010), Rep. Mary Nelson of Falmouth, Maine, has submitted the Safe School Grounds Bill. Exact language of the bill will soon be released by the Revis ...

So far, in just a few months on the campaign trail and a few weeks since being sworn in, new Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R-Waterville) has infamously told President Obama to "Go to Hell" and then the NAACP to "Kiss My Butt." Now, however, he has really pissed some people off, to use his vernacular. Included in a lengthy list of "reforms" were his call to repeal the popular Kid-Safe Products Act, as well as Main ...

Bill SB 244 Would Overturn State Preemption [caption id="attachment_2672" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Senator Ed Meyer"][/caption] CONNECTICUT WILL ONCE AGAIN try to take the national lead on the control of lawn and garden pesticides. The state that passed the first law banning pesticides outside of schools and daycare centers in 2005 now has a bill in the legislature that would overturn a pestic ...

Though the list is expected to evolve continually as it has for the past five years, the SafeLawns Foundation is delighted to announce the initial 2011 list of Approved Contractors and Products. All of these entities have pledged not to utilize or sell any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides in their formulations or services (SafeLawns makes no income from the sales of the products from these companies, alt ...

Soil Food Web Founder Joins Smallwood at Historic Organic Birthplace [caption id="attachment_2652" align="alignleft" width="540" caption="Dr. Elaine Ingham, with Paul Tukey, in this 2007 photo."][/caption] The nation's most important organic farming research is now in the hands of one of its most capable scientists. The Rodale Institute, the defacto birthplace of the organic movement in the United States, i ...