Most of us are familiar with the colorful ads we receive in our mailboxes every week. These generally end up in the trash, although a few more conscious individuals will recycle them. These are not anything that we have subscribed to or requested, but they arrive like clockwork each Tuesday or Wednesday. As far as I know, there is no way of unsubscribing from the mailing list from which they are sent.
The flier that arrived yesterday has a separate half sheet attached to the outside of one of the regular advertisements – a total of four half pages consisting of 10 Scott’s® products, 16 Miracle-Gro® products, 13 Ortho® products, and 9 Roundup® products. If you visit a garden center or home improvement store this time of year you will find huge displays of gallon sized bottles filled with lethal, toxic chemicals. Manufacturers are betting the odds that you will purchase at least one of these products before you get out the door.
I live in a small town surrounded by ranches and farms where herbicides and pesticides have become the law of the land and are used as profusely as table sugar or salt. The residents do not question the morality, the safety, or the sanity of what has become common practice. I have heard the words, “you environmentalists” spoken, or actually spat, from the mouths of unknowing people as though it was a profanity. Two hundred years ago our ancestors raised animals and grew gardens without harmful chemicals. Why have we convinced ourselves that we need them now?
While living here, I have counted at least fifteen bird species in my yard. Thirteen of those are insect eaters. The Northern flicker, a woodpecker species, subsists entirely on insects, especially ants and beetles. Robins prefer worms, insects, and fruit. Blackbirds, blue jays, hawks, and bluebirds eat grasshoppers; and chickens find them quite delectable. There may be more birds in the area that dine on insects. There should be more. Every day; however, people are spraying and fogging and eliminating anything and everything that crawls or flies. They are making it increasingly difficult for birds that rely on insects to supply their protein needs, to survive. Often the birds die from eating a poisoned insect. More and more humans are becoming ill from auto-immune diseases and cancers. Animals, birds, and humans continue to get sick and die because we allow the makers of dangerous poisons to sell their products. They are laughing all the way to the bank.
