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Here, is the latest "Green Scoop" a newsletter from Dirt Works, keeping you informed about current events at Dirt Works and New England Natural.com, recent trends in Organic Gardening, responses to your questions submitted by e-mail, Green Shopping ideas and informative articles about environmental issues and world events.
To navigate though this newsletter, use the "More" links at the end of each article or click on the links at the top of the pages in blue.
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Introduction
As summer winds down and the first signs of fall begin to emerge we find ourselves getting nostalgic for a simpler time here at Dirt Works. Back when the price of oil didn’t scare us into wondering if we will be able to afford heat this winter for example. This issue of our newsletter will enlighten you and includes easy to follow solutions that each of you can do to help your family, the planet and all of its beings.
Our first story is about the use of pesticides and the effects on not only the bee populations but also on our children. These toxic doses applied to our lawns have the greatest effect on the smallest and most innocent of us all: children, pets and honeybees. This month we’ve also included a story about the fish and seafood we take for granted and will explode the fantasy that we like to cling to as we sit down to a nice fish dinner at the beach. And for those of you that are fortunate enough to eat fish by the beach, we urge you to share some of your blessings with the children of your community that are not able to eat much of anything outside of the free lunch provided by the schools. Please check out the BackPack program in your area and make a donation if you can. And lastly we urge you to check out the compressed firelogs featured below. These logs are an efficient and clean way to heat your home this winter and offer the bonus of keeping our money here in North America instead of sending it to the middle east to further enrich the oil companies.
As you will see in this issue and in the coming months, we plan to offer solutions to these mounting problems and hope that the stories will inspire you and your communities to be more thoughtful about every dollar you spend. As we approach another important election in this country it reminds me that you get a chance to vote every day with your dollars. The politicians may not listen to you once they are elected, but the corporations and manufacturers base their business around the decisions you make with your dollars everyday. You can let them know with your spending habits that you are not willing to support any company that threatens the health of our planet and in so doing jeapordizes our health and the survival of all the generations to come.
Save Yourself – Save the Planet and Peace to All! The DirtWorks Team
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Colony Collapse Disorder and What You Can Do
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has now claimed 30% of the honey bee die off in the United States and will become one of the worst environmental disasters in history if we don’t do something to reverse it immediately. Researchers have found evidence points to the bees immune and nervous system being affected by pesticides. The sources of these pesticides are from lawns and this saturation of chemicals greatly affects the bee population, as their home range is no more than 5-10 miles. Therefore one large estate, park or golf course can kill all the bees within that radius.
That’s why it is so important for everyone to start maintaining an organic lawn and to plant bee gardens and clover to attract the bees away from the other lawns in your neighborhood that may be using pesticides.
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Taking Your Home and Lawn Organic
By Michael Schacker
Excerpted from his book
A Spring without Bees: How Colony Collapse Disorder Has Endangered Our Food Supply
A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule.
- Michael Pollan, Second Nature
After agriculture and horticulture, the next biggest use for IMD (imidacloprid) is to kill grubs on lawns and golf courses. The lawn and garden industry is a $35 billion industry, with pesticides and fertilizers making up a major part of the revenue stream, over $9 billion annually for pesticides alone.
Beyond just IMD, seventy-eight million U.S. homes use insecticides in the house or outside. It may surprise you to learn that chemically maintained lawns in the U.S. use more pesticides per acre than any food crop. The National Academy of Sciences reports that three to ten pounds per acre of pesticides were applied annually on residential lawns and gardens, compared to about two pounds per acre of soybeans. Each and every year, homeowners apply at least ninety million pounds of pesticides to lawns in the United States. The home lawn chemical industry is big business. more
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Fall Lawn Care Tips
Here are some simple steps you can take to make your organic lawn healthy as modified by John F. Meshna from an original document published by "The University of Minnesota".
Mowing Your Lawn
It's important to keep your grass 2 to 2-1/2 inches tall throughout the fall. If your grass gets much longer (more than 3 inches) it will mat, leading to winter lawn disease problems such as snow mold. If you cut it shorter than 2 inches, you'll severely limit its ability to make and store food for growth in the spring. more
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BackPack Program
The BackPack program is designed to meet the needs of hungry children from food insecure homes by providing food for weekends and school vacations. The program started when a school nurse noticed an increase in hunger related complaints by children that rely on the free lunch program.
At risk children are identified by the teachers and backpacks filled with nonperishable foods are provided to the students who then return them to be refilled for the next weekend. This program is currently being run by more than 110 America’s Second Harvest network members operating BackPack programs in 39 states and Washington D.C.
For more about the program or to make a donation please check out America’s Second Harvest and for a listing of a network member in your area click here.
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Oceans Without Fish
The Decline and Fall of America’s Last Great Fishery
By Jeffrey St. Clair, excerpted from his book - Been Brown So Long It Looked Like Green To Me
Pick Up a Copy Today!
The Bering Sea is now the most productive fishery in the North America. More than one-third of the United States’ commercial catch comes from these cold waters near the top of the world. Among the species sought by the fishing fleets of the North Pacific are yellowfin, sole, herring, halibut, and perch. But the most cherished target is pollock, the tofu of fish. Pollock, crabbed by the Japanese for surimi, turns up in American markets as fish sandwiches at Burger King and McDonalds and as imitation crab in the fish freezers at Safeway. More
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