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| Question: Living without Pesticides
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Hello. My name is Stefanie and I go to Sabino High School in Tucson, Arizona. My English class is doing a project in which I must persuade the class to think that Americans can live with out pesticides. The reason I am writing you is because I need help. If you can please send me some information or a website that I may go to, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for you time. Stefanie |
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Answer 4: |
I had previously responded to her question about pesticides but thought she might want to know why farmers started using them. Basically, farmers were "using up" the land...not replenishing it with minerals and nutrients. The chemical industry came to the rescue, if you can call it that. They found out that the primary residue from a burned plant was NPK (Nitrogen, Phospherous and Potassium) so they figured by adding lots of those three elements that it would make for healthy plants. Imagine if you will, the same logic being applied to the burnt ashes of a human body. Would we get a diet heavy in carbon? This very unbalanced formula for fertilizers soon spread all over the land. It had two major negative effects. First the chemical make up of the NPK was destoying the vital micro- organisms in the soil which are essential for the plant's ability to absorb nutrients from the soil. The soil actually began to die. It also drove away the earthworms which keep the soil aerated, among other things. The soil starts to become compact, hard, lifeless. So, what you get is soil that won't support healthy plants and the only way to get the plants to grow is to keep feeding them the NPK fertlizers, which do not produce healthy, nutrious plants. The plants become "chemically addicted". A chemically addicted plant is an unhealthy plant. An unhealthy plant attracts insects. Guess what? The chemical industry had just created themselves a whole new market...pesticides. They created the problem and their solution was to put poison on the self created problem. They are treating the symptom, not the cause. This is the short version of why pesticides got started. |
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Answer 3: Posted by Rick Feb 26, 2000 |
Remember that all of nature, all of the world is very connected
and what effects a part will, in some way, effect the whole. If we constantly spray toxic pesticides and herbicides on our land,
the poisons will circulate to the entire earth body. All life will absorb the poison. They will also create an extreme imbalance in what is a delicate natural system of checks and balances. As more pesticides are used the ironic result is the growing reduction of the insect's natural enemies. Thus, the insect population, which builds almost instant immunity to poisons, has almost nothing to keep it in check. This is why the pest problem is worse now than before pesticides were introduced. Stephanie, the biggest problem is that our soils have not only become poisoned with constant spraying of pesticides and herbicides, the soil itself has become severely depleted of vital minerals and nutrients. Artificial fertilizers do not remedy this. They actually make it worse. They provide only a part of the nutrients the plants need and because they are water soluble, the plant is forced to take up more of those particular "nutrients" than it needs. The result is a much weaker and less pest and drought resistant plant. They also compact the soil preventing much needed air and water from getting down in the soil. Nature has her own answer to this. It's called rock dust. This is rock ground up into a fine flour like powder. This powder is then worked into the soil. The results are amazing. The soil is replinished with lots of essen- tial microorganisms and nutrients which will provide more than adequate feeding for a very healthy plant. And healthy plants do not tend to attract insects and even when they do they can emit a chemical that discourages them. It is the plant weakened by the spraying and artificial fertilizer that attracts pests. Here's a couple of links to help explain rock dust and what it is all about:
Hope this helps you. It is as simple as using one part of the earth to heal another part. |
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| Answer 2: Posted by Patty Donovan Quispamsis Environmental Committee |
-I could give Stephanie a million reasons...but
maybe she should contact someone like the Sierra Club sierra@web.apc.org
(613) 241-4611 My reasons: Pesticides are: |
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| Answer 1: Posted by Elements |
-Elements would like to suggest
that you contact Patty Donovan from the Quispamsis
Environmental Committee or Françoise Aubin from
the Youth Action Group. Or Check out the following websites: 8
New Brunswick Environmental Networks website at : 8
World Wildlife Fund of Canada's website: to view their informative 8
Pesticides, Human Health & the Environment & Pesticide Use: |
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