Natural Capitalism - Sarasota

This Saturday we are heading to the field for our first community action in Lakewood Ranch, between 2pm and 5pm, in a neighborhood where homeowners are fined $50/day for refusing to dose their lawns with toxic pesticides!! We need to help our neighboring community by raising awareness and educating homeowners! We will do a lit drop and canvass for a few hours, reaching hundreds of homes. Please contact me if you can come help!

Also, we are hosting a Call-in Day to ChemLawn’s local Corporate Headquarters, taking place next Wednesday, November 15. We will flood their corporate offices with hundreds of calls from concerned community members requesting they phase out the use of their carcinogenic chemicals and replace them with non-toxic alternatives! This will take place somewhere downtown, either in front of the Selby Public Library or a bookstore on Maine St. I will be there all day, from 10:30am-4:30pm. I need some volunteers to help generate calls with me for a couple of hours to make the day a success!

Background Information about the Refuse to Use ChemLawn Campaign: Toxics Action Center is leading the way in launching a pesticide reduction campaign here in Sarasota, one of TruGreen ChemLawn's largest customer bases in the nation. TruGreen ChemLawn is the industry leader in pesticide-based lawn-care and is endangering the health of our communities and the Gulf, so we are asking them to offer safer, non-toxic alternatives.

ChemLawn is the nation’s largest lawn care service provider, and they areknowingly using possibly carcinogenic pesticides that put our families and our environment at risk. A study published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that household and garden pesticide use can increase the risk of childhood leukemia as much as seven-fold and asthma rates four-fold. Along with pets, children are the ones most affected by lawn pesticides. The same journal published a study in 2004 linking lawn care pesticides with increased rates of miscarriages. We’re now finding these chemicals everywhere. In our streams and rivers which serve as our drinking water supplies, in carpet fibers and indoor air, and even in umbilical cord blood and breast milk. These chemicals not only cause birth defects and cancer, but they also pose a grave threat to the quality of our air and water.

We believe that everyone has the right to breathe clean air, drink clean water and live in a healthy community. We can make this a reality, but we need your help to create social change. One of the most important tactics Toxics Action Center is using to pressure ChemLawn to change their practices is to collect endorsements from a wide range of local and state organizations.

Our campaign demands that ChemLawn:

Phase out the use of pesticides. TruGreen ChemLawn should immediately stop the use of those pesticides considered possible carcinogens by the USEPA and the IARC.

Disclose all ingredients in their pesticide products, including the so-called inert ingredients. TruGreen ChemLawn should educate consumers by readily providing information to its customers over the phone, in writing, and on its website about the health and environmental effects of its products.

Offer a comprehensive organic lawn care program that does not use pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. Currently, the company works in Quebec and offers a truly organic program – why can’t it do the same here?

Stop using children to market products. TruGreen ChemLawn should not enter into any promotional campaign similar to its partnership with US Youth Soccer, which encouraged families to hire TruGreen ChemLawn with promises of financial support for the town’s youth soccer league. We won a minor victory earlier this year when the company was marketing to US Youth Soccer – and because of pressure of local, regional and national groups, US Youth Soccer severed its agreement with the company.

Protect the health and safety of its workers while phasing out the use of carcinogenic chemicals.

A warm thanks to all the community members who attended our Refuse to Use ChemLawn kick-off Campaign Meeting last night! There were 20 people in attendance, representing a diverse group of dynamic, passionate, and concerned individuals committed to creating some urgent changes in Florida’s current patterns of residential pesticide usage.

It was great to see the fusion of so many community leaders and organizational heads. We have the potential to make a tremendous amount happen over the next month and half, but we all need to do our part to put pressure on ChemLawn and raise awareness in our community or neighborhood. It came out very strongly in our discussion that we are up against a pretty big force: the Chemical Industry. But that is why this campaign is so exciting!

It’s essentially the first time a group of local citizens has EVER confronted the nation’s largest pesticide service company, and that’s no small feat! We have definitely made progress in our efforts and although there is a long way to go still, we have covered a lot of ground. We need invested people in communities across the nation to take leadership roles in this type of work, and it is wonderful to know that all of you are doing just that here in Sarasota.

For additional information about Toxics Action Center's ChemLawn campaign, please visit www.RefuseToUseChemLawn.org
Ashley Schaeffer
Field Organizer, Toxics Action Center
Refuse to Use ChemLawn Campaign
ashley@greencorps.org
(941) 951-9015 Office (Sierra Club)