Healthy Soil, Livable Future
Massachusetts Chapter | Action Group
Stopping the Use of Pesticides
Industrial agriculture and Americans’ typical patterns of lawn care share this in common; an overreliance on the use of toxic pesticides that are harmful to animals and humans. Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, wrote Scientific American, “The ongoing escalation of pesticide-intensive agriculture and pollution are major driving forces in the precipitous decline of many soil organisms.” The use of pesticides has been identified as “the most significant driver of soil diversity loss in the last decade.”
Pesticides kill the beneficial microbiome life within the soil. Without these microbes thriving, the soil will not be healthy enough to grow nutritious food while it absorbs carbon from our atmosphere. Healthy soil keeps humans healthier, and it is essential if we are to hold Earth’s temperature rise below 1.5 degrees centigrade.
Many people continue to use weed-killing pesticides, such as Roundup, on their lawns, just as communities spray them on grassy fields and schoolyards. The herbicide glyphosate is an active ingredient in Roundup, which is sold in hardware and garden supply stores, despite its known health effects. Lawsuits against its producer, Bayer, have resulted in billions of dollars paid in court-enforced penalties.
Children are especially vulnerable to health issues caused by pesticide use.
LEARN: Pesticides Are Killing the World’s Soils
Take Action
Pledge to protect and build healthy soils by nurturing a natural lawn! By pledging with others, you participate in an effort that combats climate change, restores water cycles, and has your family enjoying cool green beneath your feet. Acting together, we can inspire others and change the conversation around natural lawns!
ACT: Take The Natural Lawn Pledge