UMaryland To Evaluate SafeLawns Organic Program [caption id="attachment_3528" align="alignleft" width="740" caption="Glenstone, a modern art museum in Potomac, Md., will fund a long-term study focused on organic lawn care."][/caption] POTOMAC, MD. — In what will be a long-term effort to evaluate natural lawn maintenance, a dynamic three-way partnership will launch later this year to research the application ...

Like the towns of Sedgwick, Penobscot, and Blue Hill, in Maine, the country of El Salvador has now declared "food sovereignty" from the hegemony of international market dictates, particularly those of agricultural giants like Monsanto. President Mauricio Funes is inaugurating a new plan aimed at reactivating the country’s historically ignored rural economy and reversing El Salvador’s growing dependence on i ...

[caption id="attachment_3499" align="alignleft" width="485" caption="Agastache 'Acapulco Orange' is among the many drought-tolerant perennials recommended by High Country Gardens of New Mexico."][/caption] Although it's been wetter than usual along the northeastern seaboard so far this spring, many areas of the nation are beginning to get fidgety about water use and lawn reduction. Understanding the princip ...

In a classic case of legal "uncle," the American chemical giant Dow AgroSciences dropped its $2 million lawsuit yesterday against the Quebec government concerning the province-wide ban of the weed killer known as 2,4-D. Both sides, the provincial government and the world's second largest chemical company, claimed victory in the odd standoff. Dow agreed to stop fighting the 2004 ban on the toxic chemical for ...

[caption id="attachment_3480" align="alignleft" width="325" caption="Conservation Magazine reports that researchers may be close to utilizing dandelion sap as an ingredient in synthetic rubber."][/caption] The news wires are alive these days with all sorts of tips about how to kill dandelions. This one jumped off the page for me this morning, though: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Researchers+hopes+dandelion/ ...

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a summary order concluding a long-standing lawsuit over the impacts of genetically engineered (GE) “Roundup Ready” sugar beets. As a result, previous court rulings in favor of farmers and conservation advocates will remain, including the order requiring the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to prepare a rigorous review of ...

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011 6:30 PM, Cape Elizabeth Town Hall Paul Tukey’s award-winning 2009 documentary film, A Chemical Reaction, will be shown. It tells the compelling story of Hudson, Quebec, the first town in North America to ban lawn and garden chemicals. Mr. Tukey and other local natural lawn care experts will be present to discuss natural lawn care and hands-on environmental stewardship. The event is ...

Monday, May 23, 2011 Mother Jones Magazine Will Kids Get Lyme Disease If Schools Don't Spray? by Kiera Butler Hip, hip, hooray! As of last week, student athletes in New York will no longer have to worry about getting a mouthful of toxic chemicals when they dive for the ball: The state became the second to ban pesticides on school playing fields and playgrounds, following Connecticut, which has had a similar ...

Apple orchard farmers in Kelowna, a lakeside community in the southern interior of British Columbia, have seen a 95% reduction in the amount of organophosphate pesticides used in the Okanagan Valley in the past 19 years due to the Sterile Insect Release program used to combat codling moth. Entomologist Hugh Philip said the program "has had a considerable impact on the prevalence of codling moth", and is res ...

In the 1940's and 50's, DDT and other insecticides were liberally applied to eradicate bedbug populations. Scientists now hypothesize that the few survivors produced offspring with insecticide-resistant traits. Popular Science is reporting various studies being done to test this hypothesis. Entomologist Dini Miller of Virginia Tech and her group are comparing cuticle-coding genes in both insecticide-resista ...