3 Plus Ways to Reduce Pesticide Exposure & Go Organic
Today my friends, I would like to give you a few ideas on how to reduce your exposure to pesticides and how to protect yourself and your family! Pesticides and the health dangers are all around and more evidences is emerging everyday on the toxic effects to our body and health.
Just in the US alone:
- over 4.5 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year
- with 75% used in agriculture
- 25% in homes and gardens
People of all ages are affected by pesticides. Those with allergies, asthma, respiratory disease of any type, or any type of immune disorder usually are affected to a greater degree and can have serious adverse side effects from the irritants of pesticides.
1. Minimize or eliminate chemical pesticides on you garden, lawn, and around your house:
- Your Lawn: Learn to love clover which will actually make your lawn greener if you leave it alone–pull dandelions by hand–use preventive measure and toxic-free or at least a product that is least-toxic methods to control lawn and garden pests.
- Your home: Never use toxic routine preventive spraying. Take exclusion and sanitation measures to avoid pest problems. When they do arise, use the least-toxic or natural products methods to address them such as AlwaysEco Safe and Natural Pesticide Control that has been recommended by Natural News. This product has organic natural botanical ingredients and is not harmful to you, your family, or your pets. It is very effective in ridding your home from unwanted insects.
- Your Garden: For pests in you garden use alternatives methods —
-
- Clear garden area of debris and weeds which are breeding places for insects. Use clean mulch.
- Rid you garden of weak plants that might already be infected by insect or they very possibly will attract predators. Make sure you pull the entire plant included the roots. Dispose of them away from the garden area.
- Use natural and organic composting methods, and mulching. Please make sure you use natural or organic fertilizer or compost to make sure you have strong, healthy plants that will grow. Seaweed fertilizer in mulch or spray form has trace minerals that will enhance growth, help plants withstand disease and some pests such as slugs.
- Make sure you water you garden in the early morning hours to prevent the wet foliage which can encourage insect and fungal damage to your plants.
2. Check with your school district to find out their policy on using pesticides. If they are using true integrated Pest Management and the least-toxic methods, start a campaign to insist that they do.
3. Eat organic food and or local harvest as often as possible . If your grocery store doesn’t carry much in the way of organics, then ask them to start. Let them know that your family health is very important to you!
- For National surveys show that produce from farmers markets have less pesticides residue even if they are not organic.
- Find health food stores, or your local chain grocery store that sells organic. Use Local Harvest or local road side stands that you know are locally grown, and CSA’s near you.
- Grow our own produce. Have your kids take part and make their own little garden. They will have fun, learn responsibility, give them something to look forward to, feel good about themselves and their accomplishment, will be much more likely to eat the produce, and get an education on how things grow. It’s a winning situation.
- Use the EWG Shoppers Guide to Reduce Pesticides exposure in Produce www.ewg.org/foodnews/
Pesticides are a real and present danger to our environment and health. Although so much is still not known about the long-term health problems and environmental dangers there is much evidence to alarm us. I believe that we should avoid as much toxicity as possible from our lives. We only have one planet, it is our responsibility to take care of it! In doing so we are providing a safer, healthier, more substantial future for our children. I believe they are worth it — Don’t you?
“Go Green” & “Organic” to Live A Healthier Lifestyle!
Please Share My Information!
Quote of The Day:“Is it reasonable to suppose that we can apply a broad-spectrum insecticide to kill the burrowing larval stages of a crop-destroying insect … without also killing the ‘good’ insects whose function may be the essential one of breaking down organic matter [and maintaining healthy soil?”~ Rachel Carson
