Today I planted my first plant in my new plot at the local community garden. My plot is right at the front of the garden near a busy school parking lot, so I have lots of visibility from the public. And I plan to use this visibility to get kinda political in my garden. I might even paint a hokey "Save the Bees!" sign.
The CONCEPT: A Bee Sanctuary
I hope this will be a successful haven for bees of all kinds. I hope to absolve my guilt over the time several years ago when I sprayed bee killer on an innocent nest of bumbles who had set up housekeeping in a woodchuck hole under the foundation of my house. Imagine my angst a few years later when I discovered that all of our pollinators - and therefore human agriculture and therefore human SURVIVAL - are in danger. AND that bumblebees buzz a lot in a really threatening way, but are not really prone to stinging people. Guilt? You betcha.
As I proudly brought my pot of anise hyssop in through the garden gate - the bees in my home garden LOVE these flowers - I noticed a bumblebee clinging to one of the spikes of blue blossoms. Seems like a good omen to me!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Researcher Moms
Not surprisingly, moms are sometimes strongly motivated to do research on pesticides for the sake of their children. I believe that observant parents can see how their children are affected by the world around them, whether for good or ill, and no matter what "science" tells them.
Five years ago, author Audrey Schulman wrote a fascinating (and really well-written) story about her effort to research the nature of the pesticide used on her father's cranberry farm.
Audrey writes, "Three years ago, while my extended family was vacationing at my dad's cranberry farm, he mentioned that one of his fields would be sprayed that evening. There were five children under 10 in the house, and I was eight months pregnant. The field was 100 feet away. I asked my dad about the pesticides, but he said, 'Don't worry. The government runs tests on the chemicals. They make sure they're safe.'"
After some thorough reading at the website of the Environmental Protection Agency, Audrey learned that the safety experiments her father spoke of were all conducted by the manufacturers and then reported--often under strict confidentiality--to the EPA.
So this is what we are up against:
"Although the analyses are performed by professional scientists, the results are often reported only to the EPA. They are rarely published in peer-reviewed journals, and must often be requested through the Freedom of Information Act, a process that can take years."
Audrey concludes:
"The son I was pregnant with when the cranberry bog was sprayed has developed slowly in different ways. He started talking so late the state sent a speech therapist over to tutor him. My older son, who was also there, can't draw. He's 5 now and gets frustrated trying to make even a stick figure. The one time he tried to draw me, it looked like an amoeba with three eyes.
"Does this have to do with drifting pesticides? I can't tell you. None of us will know for sure the effects of these chemicals until there's good science involved -- science that isn't funded and reported by the very people making the chemicals in the first place."
Maybe there is hope for the future, if organizations like the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) can continue to make pesticide research more accessible to the masses. I love the name of their website: What's On My Food
Five years ago, author Audrey Schulman wrote a fascinating (and really well-written) story about her effort to research the nature of the pesticide used on her father's cranberry farm.
Audrey writes, "Three years ago, while my extended family was vacationing at my dad's cranberry farm, he mentioned that one of his fields would be sprayed that evening. There were five children under 10 in the house, and I was eight months pregnant. The field was 100 feet away. I asked my dad about the pesticides, but he said, 'Don't worry. The government runs tests on the chemicals. They make sure they're safe.'"
After some thorough reading at the website of the Environmental Protection Agency, Audrey learned that the safety experiments her father spoke of were all conducted by the manufacturers and then reported--often under strict confidentiality--to the EPA.
So this is what we are up against:
"Although the analyses are performed by professional scientists, the results are often reported only to the EPA. They are rarely published in peer-reviewed journals, and must often be requested through the Freedom of Information Act, a process that can take years."
Audrey concludes:
"The son I was pregnant with when the cranberry bog was sprayed has developed slowly in different ways. He started talking so late the state sent a speech therapist over to tutor him. My older son, who was also there, can't draw. He's 5 now and gets frustrated trying to make even a stick figure. The one time he tried to draw me, it looked like an amoeba with three eyes.
"Does this have to do with drifting pesticides? I can't tell you. None of us will know for sure the effects of these chemicals until there's good science involved -- science that isn't funded and reported by the very people making the chemicals in the first place."
Maybe there is hope for the future, if organizations like the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) can continue to make pesticide research more accessible to the masses. I love the name of their website: What's On My Food
Friday, May 28, 2010
Autism I
Not sure if this article is from the New York Times or not, but I wanted to note it for further investigation.
ADHD I
Just found this recent article in Time magazine about a Harvard study that examined the amount of pesticide residue in the urine of children. The higher the rate of pesticides in a child's urine, the more likely that the child had ADHD.
I think I'm starting my crusade soon.
I think I'm starting my crusade soon.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Estrogen
I started running across references to pesticides in my menopause research. Every time I get a little bit blue, I do some reading about menopause and...it doesn't exactly cheer me up, but it helps me cope. Anyway, pesticides are unexpectedly popping up in the literature about menopause. I sort of expected that pesticides cause tumors, etc. but it's sort of weird to think that they can be responsible for elevated levels of estrogen in the environment.
I ran across this passage in a discussion of a host of potential health problems for women (including infertility, endometriosis, amenorrhea (skipped periods), hypermenorrhea (heavy bleeding), fibroids, uterine cancer, heart disease and stroke, and decreased cognitive ability) resulting from unnaturally elevated estrogen levels:
"Pesticides are perhaps the biggest source of xenoestrogens. Most bioaccumulate, meaning they are stored in fat cells of fish, poultry and other food sources in increasing concentration until they reach the top of the food chain — where you and I consume them! They are highly estrogenic, and some experts estimate that the average American ingests over a pound of pesticides a year." (emphasis added)
Source:website of Women to Women clinic in Yarmouth, Maine
There are also reports circulating (which I have yet to verify from multiple sources) that estrogen waste in our waterways are causing some male fish to change gender. I know there's more information out there, but let's start with this article from a British newspaper.
I ran across this passage in a discussion of a host of potential health problems for women (including infertility, endometriosis, amenorrhea (skipped periods), hypermenorrhea (heavy bleeding), fibroids, uterine cancer, heart disease and stroke, and decreased cognitive ability) resulting from unnaturally elevated estrogen levels:
"Pesticides are perhaps the biggest source of xenoestrogens. Most bioaccumulate, meaning they are stored in fat cells of fish, poultry and other food sources in increasing concentration until they reach the top of the food chain — where you and I consume them! They are highly estrogenic, and some experts estimate that the average American ingests over a pound of pesticides a year." (emphasis added)
Source:website of Women to Women clinic in Yarmouth, Maine
There are also reports circulating (which I have yet to verify from multiple sources) that estrogen waste in our waterways are causing some male fish to change gender. I know there's more information out there, but let's start with this article from a British newspaper.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Earth Day & Rachel Carson
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMzBhrIu0LS9DfmyNqpqHR2xp1AyOIFqrAeoYvJ2-PbLh3MZFJ7aMsCysEZRsZmwpowjS2GNdwQf9S1E4uMhwVMCnBLthN8DOnuBHNxCCb81ZP-Bkp4WGw8MlyXPjmupSiUDaAWfA7VLs/s320/carsonss.jpg)
Just finished watching Earth Days on PBS' American Experience. Gotta read Silent Spring to celebrate Earth Day. Just sayin'.
Or at least read up on Rachel Carson and how she tried to save us.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Salting the Earth
I was really disturbed by all the extra salt that I saw piled on the streets this past winter. One spring years ago, my father noticed that his garden plants wouldn't grow next to the driveway. He conjectured that the family cars picked up salt from the roads, along with the ice and snow, and that when chunks of snow dropped off the cars they left a salty residue in the driveway that killed the plants on its perimeter. I don't know if my father's theory was correct, but I never forgot it.
During my lunchtime walks I literally saw hills of salt lying uselessly where street maintenance crews had thrown it out and left it to flow into the rivers and gardens. Can't we find a less toxic way of dealing with ice and snow?
Sometimes I think that humans view themselves as conquerors and that we are in a constant state of salting the earth.
"And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt." Judges 9:45 (King James Version)
During my lunchtime walks I literally saw hills of salt lying uselessly where street maintenance crews had thrown it out and left it to flow into the rivers and gardens. Can't we find a less toxic way of dealing with ice and snow?
Sometimes I think that humans view themselves as conquerors and that we are in a constant state of salting the earth.
"And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt." Judges 9:45 (King James Version)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Totems
In the 1970's, when bald eagles were endangered in the USA, the United States Government devoted a lot of effort toward saving our national symbol. Laws were passed to outlaw the pesticide DDT, which was identified as the major detriment to the health of this "totem animal." Time was devoted to educating the public about the dangers of putting poisons into the food chain. The population of bald eagles gradually rebounded enough so that in the 1990's, the species was reclassified from "endangered" to merely "threatened", and in 2007 was taken off the endangered list altogether. It's a wonderful success story.
Just like many countries, sports teams commonly ally themselves with the images and characteristics of certain animals: Tigers, Lions, Bears, Cardinals, Falcons - I'll bet you can think of even more. I actually like this practice because I like animals to be front and center as often as possible. I think that animals have been totally sidelined in our modern society. People have forgotten how to live alongside our fellow creatures of the earth (when was the last time you slept in a log cabin with your livestock? - no off-color jokes please...)
SO HERE'S MY BIG IDEA:
I think that sports teams named after animals, especially endangered animals, should contribute a significant amount of money and publicity toward the health and preservation of those species. This should include major contributions toward preserving the natural habitats of these animals.
We can take this idea even further if we expand it to include team mascots. Notice how many of these major league baseball mascots are animals. There are some interesting essays about the relationships between birds and sports teams in the Sports Archive over at 10,000 Birds.com.
Here is a fascinating article (with equally fascinating links) about live animal mascots used by college sports teams. Don't expect much reference to animal rights or animal conservation in these pages. Particularly disturbing to me is the plight of Louisiana State University's live mascot Mike the Tiger.
So - for instance - do the Chicago Bears do anything to help the plight of bears in this world? Maybe even just a little public education? I couldn't find any such thing on their website, but I did find out that Staley Da Bear is interested in helping human children live healthier lives through exercise. Laudable but perhaps short sighted in terms of global health.
Finally, I think that media images of animals have the capacity to lull us into a false feeling that everything is ok. Maybe it's hard to believe that the Siberian tigers are truly in danger when TV, etc. pummels us on a daily basis with pictures of cartoon tigers alive and well. Hey - I just ate some breakfast cereal sold to me by Tony the Tiger and then I went down to the gas station and put a tiger in my tank (come to think of it, does the Kellog Company or - perish the thought - Exxon give any money or time in support of the survival of tigers? Think of all the money they've made using tigers in their advertising. I think it's payback time!!!)
I actually had this idea on the back burner for years when I started to write this post months ago. Last week I was standing in front of a class of eighth graders, killing some time by making conversation with them before introducing a speaker, when I heard myself say, "Have I ever told you guys my great idea?" I spilled it out in one or two sentences before moving on. But as we turned our attention to the business at hand, I heard a young woman in the front row say (almost to herself), "That's actually a good idea." Inspiration.
Just like many countries, sports teams commonly ally themselves with the images and characteristics of certain animals: Tigers, Lions, Bears, Cardinals, Falcons - I'll bet you can think of even more. I actually like this practice because I like animals to be front and center as often as possible. I think that animals have been totally sidelined in our modern society. People have forgotten how to live alongside our fellow creatures of the earth (when was the last time you slept in a log cabin with your livestock? - no off-color jokes please...)
SO HERE'S MY BIG IDEA:
I think that sports teams named after animals, especially endangered animals, should contribute a significant amount of money and publicity toward the health and preservation of those species. This should include major contributions toward preserving the natural habitats of these animals.
We can take this idea even further if we expand it to include team mascots. Notice how many of these major league baseball mascots are animals. There are some interesting essays about the relationships between birds and sports teams in the Sports Archive over at 10,000 Birds.com.
Here is a fascinating article (with equally fascinating links) about live animal mascots used by college sports teams. Don't expect much reference to animal rights or animal conservation in these pages. Particularly disturbing to me is the plight of Louisiana State University's live mascot Mike the Tiger.
So - for instance - do the Chicago Bears do anything to help the plight of bears in this world? Maybe even just a little public education? I couldn't find any such thing on their website, but I did find out that Staley Da Bear is interested in helping human children live healthier lives through exercise. Laudable but perhaps short sighted in terms of global health.
Finally, I think that media images of animals have the capacity to lull us into a false feeling that everything is ok. Maybe it's hard to believe that the Siberian tigers are truly in danger when TV, etc. pummels us on a daily basis with pictures of cartoon tigers alive and well. Hey - I just ate some breakfast cereal sold to me by Tony the Tiger and then I went down to the gas station and put a tiger in my tank (come to think of it, does the Kellog Company or - perish the thought - Exxon give any money or time in support of the survival of tigers? Think of all the money they've made using tigers in their advertising. I think it's payback time!!!)
I actually had this idea on the back burner for years when I started to write this post months ago. Last week I was standing in front of a class of eighth graders, killing some time by making conversation with them before introducing a speaker, when I heard myself say, "Have I ever told you guys my great idea?" I spilled it out in one or two sentences before moving on. But as we turned our attention to the business at hand, I heard a young woman in the front row say (almost to herself), "That's actually a good idea." Inspiration.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Weed Killer I
Several years ago there was a weed killer commercial on TV that really bugged me. A bunch of little animated weeds walked and talked in annoying fashion and then got killed by some weed killer in a spray bottle because they were annoying and EVIL weeds. The thing that got my goat was the fact that all of the weeds were actually wildflowers that I know and love. Joe Pye Weed, dandelions, Queen Anne's Lace...yuck. It was a dark representation of the old gardener's adage that there is no such thing as a weed, there are only plants that grow in the wrong places.
I wasn't able to find the original offending ad on YouTube, but here is a Brit commercial that should give you the idea (although you'll probably approve of it if you dislike dandelions - I myself dream of someday cultivating dandelions in a raised bed and harvesting all of the edible parts for their goodness):
I wasn't able to find the original offending ad on YouTube, but here is a Brit commercial that should give you the idea (although you'll probably approve of it if you dislike dandelions - I myself dream of someday cultivating dandelions in a raised bed and harvesting all of the edible parts for their goodness):
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Lawns I
I walk my indoor cats outside on leashes. Thank goodness that I live on two acres of land that is pesticide free. My landlord feels very strongly about not using pesticides and I am extremely grateful for that. Tonight, I'm too tired to be clever about my reasons for sharing my Pesticide Journey here. I just felt the need to organize my thoughts on this issue and to do some research. Maybe I can become more knowledgeable and formulate some balanced opinions BEFORE I become a raving, rabid, lunatic activist.
So first, I am going to spend some time with these people.
So first, I am going to spend some time with these people.
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