The city of Muncie, Indiana, made the news this week by switching its City Hall landscape to the principles of xeriscaping. With droughts affecting so much of the nation these days, we just can't waste water the way we used to. This blog has covered water issues in detail in the past several weeks, including this post about the City Hall in Falmouth, Mass.: www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2009/07/dont-wast ...

As a chemically sensitive person, one of the ubiquitous summertime products I need to avoid is Off, the mosquito and insect repellent containing DEET, or N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide. I immediately get outrageous headaches if I'm anywhere around the stuff. Although the chemical has been used in mosquito repellents for years — and it certainly does work — it has also been controversial for almost as long as ...

When we visited with the Pesticide Action Network during the filming of the movie A Chemical Reaction, the lead scientist said he hoped a ban on endosulfan was imminent. The insecticide, banned in more than 50 countries, has been steadfastly defended and approved in the United States by the Environmental Protection Agency. That, however, may be changing. Under pressure from scientists around the world, the ...

I'd like to thank the folks at Wisconsin Public Radio, who had us on the air yesterday to talk about the release of our film, A Chemical Reaction. The response from their audience made Tuesday, Aug. 11, the busiest day of the summer for SafeLawns.org (it generated more "hits" than my appearance on Good Morning America back in July). One of the great questions I received concerned how to talk to a neighbor w ...

I received this email today from a new SafeLawns member from Wisconsin. If anyone has any experience with this issue, please post a comment below. Paul, I just listened to a replay of your Wisconsin Public Radio interview this morning. I hope you can help me: I am about to start legal proceedings against TruGreen for damage to my trees, shrubs, native plantings (I would bring up my headaches but don’t think ...

Yesterday our film was accepted at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival for its official United States premiere. Here is a complete list of screenings as of today: SCREENINGS Montreal World Film Festival (Aug. 27-Sept. 7) Screening Dates TBA (OFFICIAL WORLD PREMIERE) Camden (Maine) International Film Festival (Oct. 1-4) Screening Date TBA New Jersey Film Festival Oct. 4, 7 p.m. New Jersey Film Fes ...

The chemical compound 2,4-D, one of the most commonly used weed killers in the world, has been manufactured in the U.S. since 1947. The product is still at the center of many controversies, especially in Canada where the product is or soon will be banned by approximately 70 percent of the nation. Millions of pounds of the product is still used in the U.S. A report in an Asian newspaper today claimed the U.S ...

John Richardson from Ft. Myers, Fla., emailed me today to ask about a manual tool he heard me talk about recently on the radio. I'm sure it was the Weed Hound, which grips and plucks weeds down to the root and saves bending over. The tool is available at all sorts of places on-line. Here are a few on a Google search: http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=weed+hound+tool&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=lHR_SpDVDYmiMcTO-fM ...

In the Northeast of the U.S. and in much of Eastern Canada, where the excess moisture of the summer of 2009 continues to persist, earwigs can be almost as much of a problem as the slugs that posted about earlier. They probably gross people out even more. Earwigs, also known as pinchers, will appear around your home and garden randomly by day, but do their real damage at night. They really don't like sunligh ...

They knew the film’s general underlying story from the newspapers. They were impressed by what they saw on the screen. But when the officials of the World Film Festival of Montreal asked for the official movie credits for “A Chemical Reaction,” they couldn’t quite believe their ears. After they had selected our movie they asked for a crew list, and the answer was always the same. They asked me who was our e ...