In Ontario our dicksnap of a Premier (Dalton McGuinty, two-time majority winner thanks to an equally dicksnap electorate), just banned pesticides. You may no longer fight weeds on your lawn with pesticides. Meanwhile, golf courses and farmers are exempt. So, your lawn is not protected but if you golf or eat food grown on farms, it's totally safe to wallow in pesticides. Yeah. Banning pesticides - about as practical and intelligent as banning guns. Dalton McGuinty is a tooltard!

dont live in Canada, but agreed.

Apparently pulling the weeds by hand or using environmentally friendly methods is out of the question...

Posted by Stewie Apparently pulling the weeds by hand or using environmentally friendly methods is out of the question...

I'm going to have to agree with Stewie here. Why not take a few minutes to bend over and do some manual pulling, not spray poisons all over the place?

I do agree that some hard work will do anyone good.

BUT

I think Fedge's point is that it is insane to think that banning these chemicals for private home use while still letting farms and golf courses use them in excess is going to make even the smallest difference to the environment.

It is kinda like saying that it is illegal to dump your trash in the ocean but it is OK for PEPCO, PECO, Corning, and god knows who else to do it in the name of business. Oh wait, never mind.

Posted by David Dong I do agree that some hard work will do anyone good. BUT I think Fedge's point is that it is insane to think that banning these chemicals for private home use while still letting farms and golf courses use them in excess is going to make even the smallest difference to the environment. It is kinda like saying that it is illegal to dump your trash in the ocean but it is OK for PEPCO, PECO, Corning, and god knows who else to do it in the name of business. Oh wait, never mind.

I'm not disagreeing on that point, just that pesticides aren't necessary on one's lawn. It's a step in the right direction, but perhaps not far enough.

They aren't necessary for a lawn.
There's a natural thing you can use using chewing tobacco, non phosphorous detergent and antiseptic mouthwash. Something that's poisonous to the bugs but not to the humans and animals.
There's a site called www.jerrybaker.com that has some good recipes on it for this stuff. Most of it's just simple stuff you have around your house. You just have to make sure if you're using it on plants that you're going to eat, you wash the fruit/vegetable well.
He's even got some recipes that call for 1/4 to a cup of human pee. So, you can use everything.

Shael

Go read the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson