Editor’s note: This commentary is by Abigail Winrich, of Townshend, a rising junior at at the University of Vermont studying environmental sciences.
“Cover your mouth, you don’t want to breathe that in.”
This is the phrase I hear all too often at my summer job. In the summers, I work as a landscaper. Toward the middle of the season our job becomes entirely about maintenance. When you get to a site, you go through the same routine: weed, cultivate, water and “dust.” Dusting is what we call spreading insecticide. We use a fine white powder and it is shaken on the plants from a spice container. It is always the last thing we do because nobody wants it near them. It is highly toxic, which is why the older landscapers I work with won’t let me use it when they are around. They say I am too young to be exposed to something like it.
If it is too dangerous for someone who knows what it is and how to apply it, should it even be used at all? No. But landscapers are charged with the impossible task of making an ecosystem fit a narrow view of anthropocentric beauty rather than cultivating a healthy environment.
Landscapers need to realize they are really ecologists at heart and start acting accordingly.
The insecticide we use is called carbaryl but it is more commonly called Sevin. Many countries in Europe and Africa have banned the chemical due to the fact it is a neurotoxin and a likely human carcinogen. Carbaryl has been the subject of quite a few court cases but it has not resulted in any major legislation around the chemical. Sevin is just one of many harmful pesticides that remain legal under lackadaisical U.S. environmental law. The biggest problem is not that it is 100 percent legal in the United State but rather that you can buy it in bulk at almost any retailer with a gardening section. The majority of places Sevin is used are residential properties, meaning that it’s used in close proximity to children and pets regularly. While the purpose of spreading Sevin is to deter bugs, its impact goes much further. Rain and wind can spread the powder and it ends up impacting unintended organisms such as aquatic life, birds and wild mammals. It also has disastrous effects on insects that are not considered pests. I have found many bees and butterflies lying dead on plants treated with Sevin. These insects are not only necessary for the health of the landscapes we work on but also the surrounding ecosystems.
If Sevin is not good for landscapers or landscapes, let’s stop using it. Landscapers need to realize they are really ecologists at heart and start acting accordingly. Ecology is defined as a branch of science concerned with the interrelationship of organisms and their environments. Currently, landscapers are primarily concerned with planting the right plants for a given microenvironment that will succeed and look nice. They need the plants to interact well with their environment. But the environment should be extended to the insects and plants that are considered pests. Preference should be given to native species that co-evolved with these bugs and are more resistant. Consumers need to raise their expectations and demand that pesticides are unacceptable. Pesticide use should be seen as a failure to provide the right types of plants for an environment.
I am not condemning current landscaping practices as a whole. I understand landscaping companies are in the business to make money. And unfortunately, clients see chewed leaves as ugly instead of a natural consequence of having certain species planted. I also cannot overlook the benefits of pesticide usage. There are many ecological problems that can be solved with pesticides. In the case of invasive plants, pesticides can be the best of bad options. The benefits of the eradication are far outweighed by the costs of the treatment.
In the case of residential landscaping, the jury is out. A healthy ecosystem is a beautiful ecosystem and if landscapers strive for that balance perhaps we can reduce the use of harmful pesticides where they are not needed.
