[caption id="attachment_5403" align="alignleft" width="396"] From the Mosquito Squad web site[/caption] By Nancy Alderman, president, Environment and Human Health Inc. Although the franchise pesticide spraying business, "Mosquito Squad," (http://www.mosquitosquad.com) has taken down its coloring book for toddlers — its cartoon pesticide spraying mascot, "Dred Skeeter," is all over YouTube — he is at parades ...

Historic Pesticide Bill Aims to Protect Children, Waterways [caption id="attachment_5394" align="alignleft" width="540"] Though the bill passed today only applies to the District of Columbia, its significance may be felt nationally. [/caption] WASHINGTON, D.C. — After more than a year of strategic planning and fierce opposition from synthetic chemical lobbying groups, a Washington, D.C., councilor today was ...

[caption id="attachment_5374" align="alignleft" width="540"] Yesterday a truck for a local organic lawn care company showed up to apply product to our neighbor's yard.[/caption] As I've noted here before, we moved to a new neighborhood last year. We have since cringed when lawn after lawn is sprayed with toxic pesticides to kill the weeds and sprinkler systems go off daily to keep the sidewalk and roadway s ...

[caption id="attachment_5338" align="alignleft" width="540" caption="At a Home Depot in Rhode Island these three insect-killing products were side by side and priced identically yesterday. Only one of them is safe to use around your home, however. "][/caption] It's that time of year here in New England when most lawns have been fertilized and most dandelions have passed and gone to seed, if they weren't kil ...

Quietly, methodically, District of Columbia councilmember Mary Cheh, did her homework and concluded that pesticides used to kill dandelions and other weeds have no place on public spaces where children and pets play. After input from SafeLawns, Beyond Pesticides, the Pesticide Action Network among others, her committee has now unanimously voted to recommend passage of the “Pesticide Education and Control Am ...

Ontario Family Physicians Warn of Pesticide Dangers in Second Landmark Study (SAFELAWNS NOTE: This details the second report from the Ontario College of Family Physicians. The first, issued in 2004, was significantly instrumental in Quebec, Ontario and several other Canadian provinces banning the use of Roundup, weed 'n feed and other common lawn and garden weed and insect killers. Eight years later, the Co ...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this 4-minute video is worth an epic tome. Directed by Louie Schwartzberg, the piece speaks to why we need to reduce pesticides . . . far more eloquently than words really ever could: http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xHkq1edcbk4?rel=0 ...

URI RESEARCHERS LOOKING FOR NON-PESTICIDE APPROACHES TO SAVING LILIES [caption id="attachment_5285" align="alignleft" width="563" caption="Lily beetles attack Asiatic lilies, not daylilies, which are an unrelated plant. "][/caption] [caption id="attachment_5281" align="alignleft" width="358" caption="The adult lily leaf beetle is scarlet red and about the size of a lady bug."][/caption] Off the lawn topic t ...

We thank our friends at Earthcare Natural Lawn and Landscapes and Purple Cow Organics of Wisconsin, one of America's finest compost companies, for permission to republish this food for thought: [caption id="attachment_5256" align="alignleft" width="341" caption="Purple Cow Organics specializes in turning what would otherwise be food waste products into rich soil amendments. "][/caption] By Darrell Smith and ...

THE INACTION MEANS WE NEED TO ACT TOGETHER I have to say I’m not one to inherently, blindly grant government too much power, but I do have to love the way the French are dealing with yet another study that says pesticides are killing bees. Within days of a scientific report that linked a synthetic nicotine known as Thiamethoxam to colony collapse disorder, the government announced it planned to ban the prod ...