Brown Is Green

Have Another Glass Of Yummy Weed Killer.  Delish!

The facts are obvious:  lawn chemicals end up in our drinking water.

A brown lawn is “greener” than a green lawn:

We in America spend a great amount of our resources in the upkeep of our lawns.   If we are really concerned about our family, friends, neighbors, community, and pets, and more broadly, our future and our environment, we might want to reconsider what makes us do so and if it’s truly a wise use of resources, and if this obsession has any negative effects on all or any of us.

OK.  The multi-million dollar industry is good for the economy, one might argue.  Point taken.  But at what cost?

To keep our lawns a mono culture, that is to say, one species, grass, without other species of plants that naturally occur, we use weed killer, usually containing atrazine, which scientific studies have show to be a hormone disruptor.  The function of cells is controlled by hormones in the body’s endocrine system.  Distortion of the normal hormone function causes distortion of the health of our cells and taxes our immune systems.  Why do companies that provide lawn care tag lawns after chemical treatments with visible warnings to keep children and pets off the lawn for 24 hours?  Liability.  They are well aware of the danger of their products.

We Treat Our Lawns With Chemicals Weekly, Then Wash the Chemicals Into Our Community’s Water With Nightly Watering.

Many of us, in our efforts to keep our lawns green and weed free, have our lawns treated regularly with chemicals, and then we water our lawns nightly, washing these chemicals into our local water systems.

Recent tests of municiple water in many states have shown unsafe levels of a variety of chemicals and toxins, including atrizine.  Obviously our water purification systems are not adequate to filter the excess of chemicals dumped into the system.  Using our water systems as disposal mechanisms has serious ramifications.  The Dead Zone in the Gulf Of Mexico is caused by excess fertilizer runoff into the Mississippi River.  These nutrients cause an algae bloom feeding off the nutrients, and the algae bloom uses all the available oxygen.  Any plant or animal in the then oxygenless vicinity then dies of suffication.

Water is an increasingly precious resource, and this trend will only continue.  The World Health Organization states that water will be the most important resource worldwide in the near future.  In the US, many states have been under serious drought conditions for years, and the water table is lowering throughout the Northern Hemisphere.  Many municipalities have restrictions on water use for watering lawns, washing cars, etc.  It’s time that those of us in locales that have sufficient water supplies enough to not worry about shortages consider what cowtowing to pressures to have manicured lawns does to our communities.  It’s time to stop using resources selfishly for inane reasons.  It’s time for brown lawns to be the status symbol of progressive thinking that driving a hybrid car is quickly becoming.  It’s time that we realize that brown is green and is truly a sign of taking personal responsiblity for ourselves and each other.