I am an Audubon member, very active - a chapter president - and I am appalled by what the National organization proposes to do.

This is one of those times that I feel we all need to join forces and speak out on the following: National Audubons intention to ally itself with chemical pesticide manufacturers!!!

For more than forty years, the National Audubon Society has been involved with the national effort to reduce and eliminate the use of pesticides, especially for aesthetic purposes. So it is alarming to see that National Audubon is poised to join with the Monsanto Corporation, DuPont, Dow AgroScience, the Scotts Corporation and other pesticide manufacturers, to publicly endorse the use of pesticides on lawns and gardens.

A consumer guideline, entitled Environmental Guidelines for Responsible Lawn Care and Landscaping, (written primarily by the pesticide industry - and apparently agreed to by representatives from both Audubon and the National Wildlife Federation as part of this alliance)- is scheduled to be finalized at the Lawns and Environment Conference next week in San Antonio, Texas.

In a nutshell, the guidelines promote the use of chemical pesticides by homeowners ~ couched in expert advice on lawn and landscape care.

The point is that these guidelines will be flaunting the Audubon/National Wildlife names wherever pesticides are sold NATIONWIDE, confusing consumers and sending a false and dangerous message about pesticide use.

Not many consumers (if any) will go through the guide thoroughly, and/or be able to pick out the sound advice from the pro-pesticide advice. Most will just assume these toxic chemicals are safe , since Audubons name will be in front of them. Make no mistake - the Audubon name will be trumpeted by the pesticide industry as it rolls over any effort to curtail pesticide use in this country if these guidelines go forward.

Historically, when it came to protecting the environment Audubon has spoken with authority and integrity.

When Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring, the National Audubon Society stood firmly by her side as the giant pesticide companies sought to derail her noble effort. One can only imagine her reaction to learn that Audubon has taken such a step to reverse its position and is now standing side by side with those same companies!

Now, Audubon has a shocking alliance with the manufacturers of the very pesticides that have killed untold millions of birds and other wildlife, polluted our land and water, taxed our bodies (and the bodies of wildlife) with a chemical body burden that affects the very quality of life on earth. And it undercuts years of effort and progress by individual members, citizens, state and local Audubon chapters and other environmental organizations to reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides for aesthetic lawn care. More importantly, it erodes the trust thousands have placed in the name Audubon. With this alliance, Audubon is publicly promoting the use of pesticides, (no matter how carefully worded the endorsement might be), and sends the wrong message to homeowners across this country.

We need to STOP AUDUBON from following through on this ill-advised, irrevocable and perilous action!

There is a meeting to finalize these guidelines next week we need to act NOW.

1. Call the National Audubon headquarters at (212) 979-3000 TODAY or Monday and let them know how you feel. Ask for Public Relations.

2. E-mail Audubons top executives and tell them how you feel:

7 Bob Perciasepe, Chief Operating Officer, at bperciasepe@audubon.org

7 John Flicker, President, at jflicker@audubon.org.

7 You may get an out of office reply, but thats OK. Two other phone numbers come up on the out of office reply, so you can call them as well: Contact Eddie Flaherty in DC with Washington questions (202 861 2242) and Sue Mackey in NY with NY questions (212 979 3071)


E-mail John Bianchi in the Press Office of Audubon: jbianchi@audubon.org
4. If you live in MASS., please note that Massachusetts Audubon is a separate organization from the National Audubon. You may want to call them (781-259-9500) and ask them to send their protest to National Audubon.


You can read how the chemical pesticide industry is positioning this campaign by cutting and pasting the following into your search engine.

http://grounds-mag.com/ar/grounds_maintenance_environmental_groups_lawn/

However, please be aware that they neglect to tell you that the group RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sustainable Environment) is a organization made up of Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Du Pont, Scotts, to name a few of the major pesticide manufacturers!) ~ and that Monsanto has given National Audubon a donation of $2 million!!! To see the article on the donation cut and paste

http://www.audubon.org/news/press_releases/Montsano_Release.html

Please forward this email on to your own email lists garden clubs, naturalists, birders, environmental groups, concerned citizens, friends and family across the state, across the country.

thanks for the info. already sent an e-mail to audubon telling them of my disappointment in sided with monsato in this project. with luck and e-mail campaign, maybe audubon will get the message that monsato is not a good choice of a partnership.

I hate to be a skeptic but, in this day and age unfortunately you need to be. I'm quite upset by what you have said but I always do my homework before I act (or try to). I see from the Audabon web page that :

" National Audubon Society today announced that more than $2 million was pledged by the Monsanto Fund, Monsanto Companys philanthropic arm, to support waterbird research on agricultural lands. The three-year grant is being awarded to identify and research farming practices that will improve environmental health and wildlife habitat, by focusing on waterbirds, water quality, and the health of aquatic ecosystems. "

But I didn't see anything about Audabon recommending pesticides. In fact I searched their web site and didn't find anything that says we're now friends with Monsanto and we think pesticides are okay. In fact, quite the opposite. Do you have some more web links or other things I can look up? I'd love to be part of the pressure to ensure they stay out of Monsanto's pockets.

I heard an interesting debate the other day regarding this topic of hebicide and pesticide use the last 50 years.

Would the world and our quality of life be better if they handn't been invented back in the 1940's? Would we be living longer, would cancer rates be lower etc.?

pdxlinder;
I found only that info on the internet,too.
It is appropriate for Audubon to research the effects of pesticides/herbicides from agriculture on bird populations.
So,I'm not sure what the 'chapter' president is talking about.
Since I am a friend of the NH Adubon President, I'll be finding out more , you can bet on it.

Ya think? ?:|

gardenz

I dont think its cut and dry for either side on the issue. I dont buy into everything the organic side promotes and certainly not everything the chemical companies have to say.

In the last century some cancers have really dropped off and others have really risen. No different anywhere around the world. Different cultures have different types of cancers it seems depending on diets etc. A top killer thats preventable has always been lung cancer from smoking. A researcher commented if you lived in the city by a chemical factory or if lived out in the country but smoked a pack a day. Your chance of cancer of course would be still higher if you were the smoker.

All the research points to diets and the reduced amount of exercise as major causes of cancer. Look at the amount of sugar the average American consumes in one year in 2004 compared to 1904, some people call it poison! Then there is the amount of meat that is eaten. Not that meat is all bad , but if its replacing the amount of veggies, fruit and whole grains in the diet it will increase chances of cancers years down the road. We are living longer and cancer tends to raise its ugly head later in life.

Of course in a perfect world we wouldnt need any harmful chemicals or toxins etc. However the use of herbicides etc. have provided America with an abundant of cheap food. Food like fruits and veggies that doctors say the average person doesnt eat near enough of . Instead it seems the average public just eats more of the poor food choices. Fast foods, highly processed foods, goodies like wonder bread that lasts of the shelf for god knows how long. Some of the stuff grade 1s take for lunch in my sons class is ridiculous! I cant believe what some peoples idea of a healthy lunch is.

Therefore I dont buy into simply blaming all our problems on herbicides used by farmers in the field.

I agree with many points you have mentioned in your message. One of them stands out to me though which is:

However the use of herbicides etc. have provided America with an abundant of cheap food.

I am not good at explaining why this is false but I have read a very interesting book called fatal harvest. Many of the myths promoted by the food industry are dispelled. It is not a reading which just says we don't t like the way industrial agriculture works and that's that. It goes into WHY the myths put forth are not valid.
Dusty

A person mentioned sure we have lots of cheap food with modern farming production. But now look what it has done to us, we eat too much of it. It's in the news daily regarding stuffl like how the average weight of kids has increased over the past 20 years alone.

its not only that pesticides and herbacides "maybe" increasing our food ouput, but it is the harm that these chemicals are doing to our environment. our waterways are becoming more fouler every year; our soil is becoming poorer in its abilities to maintain soil fertility and our over all health is decreasing every year(increase in obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, etc). we are linked to the health of our water, soil and air so the farther we stray from keeping them healthy, the less likelyhood that we will maintain our health. i still would rather take my chances with organic gardening to feed the world, then take my chances on what the cides are doing to us in the long run.

its not only that pesticides and herbacides "maybe" increasing our food ouput,

-Explain your saying chemicals have not increased productivity across the world?

but it is the harm that these chemicals are doing to our environment. our waterways are becoming more fouler every year;

-I agree misuses of fertilizers, manure, and chemicals are causing problems in areas. Especailly irrigating land in the desert to grow crops that are worthless.

our soil is becoming poorer in its abilities to maintain soil fertility

-I disagree on that one and would like to see some report that states your claim.


increase in obesity, diabetes, heart attacks

-are they not related to how much of something your eating not how it was grown?

i still would rather take my chances with organic gardening to feed the world, then take my chances on what the cides are doing to us in the long run.


-I wouldn't, I suppose in a perfect world it would be nice if everyone could have thier own little garden but not very practical. If we were to farm organically we would need far more farmers, farm land, different eating habbits and life sytles.

If growing 20 cows 10 pigs 100 chickens etc. on a quarter of land like was done 70 years ago was the answer why don't more people come out to the country to do it? There is all kinds of farmland out there to be bought and farmed. The opposite happen everyone left the country for the cities. Probably one of the things that bugs me the most. People preaching how farming should be done yet they won't sell thier house, cabin at the lake, SUV's , give up their 100K a year job to buy a quarter of land in the country and go farming. I welcome people to do it, but what ends up happening is instead of buying quarters in the country to farm, they buy quaters of nice farm land and build these little country subdivisions on them!!!! Sticking each house on an acre of land. Then drilling a water well for every house and putting in a sewer field system on the back lawn.

I read that in 30 years the earths population will be another half as much. Countries like China are developing at a rapid pace. People (farmers) are moving into the cities yearly their. Something like 30 million a year. There is huge developement going on there now expanding the cities. One of the reasons steel prices have gone crazy, China is buying up all the world's scrap iron.

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People who endorse pesticides/herbices are those who use them. We will see more ramifications from them besides cancer. We haven't seen their full fury on our genetics, on our eco-systems, our frogs and fish that are polluted so heavily, on our birds that live by the sea. We have soil that is heavily depleted of nutrients because of our
push for "mega-cheap-crops" . We aren't only poisoning ourselves, we poisoning everything around us. I have relatives on a farm and they all came down with some weird cancer (bone, etc). Another group had all of their kids with coke bottle glasses, their eyes were so bad. Pesticided and herbicides are hurting us and our animals tremedously. Now we have to pop chemical vitamins to supply us with nutrients that our soil no longer has due to lack of rotation of crops...etc.
We need to wake up! Easy isn't usually better!
jamie

First off the reason I post on here at times is to just give a tiny bit of balance. I agree with many of the ideas posters have on here. However I find some times the misinformation about things is amazing. A good thing is at least the posters on here have an interest in where food comes from! Now a days its the least of peoples concerns cause places like Costco have it piled high to the ceiling. As long as the shelves are full and prices are good its all most are concerned about.

Is there problems with modern Agsure there is. Is it the end of the world and the cause of every ones problemsI dont think so. Seems some people in society blame farmers and their ways for just about everything and dont look at themselves. In a hundred years a hell of a lot more has changed besides farming practices. We eat better (more) then any time in history and are the least active in anytime history. The Sony Play Station and cable TV are baby sitters of many of the 21st century kids.

Where do we draw the line with Technology??

As for your blanket statement farmers are all dieing of cancer I feel its just another inaccurate statement. When people get old they get more cancers, city people and country people the like. Most farmers are in their 60s it would only make sense they would be suffering from things time to time just like their older city cousins. Herbicides have been in use since the 1950s. You would think it would be the number one killer of Americans by now if it was the cause of all our problems.

studies by rodale have shown that long term use of organic gardening methods produce nearly the same amount of food as do cides. so was there truly an increase by cides from previous generations.

is the quality, minerals, vitamins and appeal better with the use of cides as compared to organic methods. show me studies to disprove this.

try reading the following books: "The One Straw Revolution" by Masanoba Fukuoka, "Dirt the Ecstatic Skin of The Earth" by William Bryant Logan and "At Nature's Pace" by Gene Logsdon. i still will stick with organic gardening over cides to provide my food supply.

poison is poison regardless if it is being used to produce "more" food for us. clean food, clean mind/body.

studies by rodale have shown that long term use of organic gardening methods produce nearly the same amount of food as do cides. so was there truly an increase by cides from previous generations.

-Im talking in farming in general across North America. Not your typical garden plot. Of course you can grow an excellent garden with out herbicides. Really who would? It would be costly and impractical to use herbicides on some small garden anyway.

-This is where disagreements come in comparing a acre of garden to 2000 acres of grain.
As for grain farming yes there has been an increase in production.

is the quality, minerals, vitamins and appeal better with the use of cides as compared to organic methods. show me studies to disprove this.

-I dont think its better or worse. From the news programs Ive seen on it when theyve done testing it always seems to come out about the same depending on item. The common remark always seems to be the more local and fresh your food is the better it is.

try reading the following books: "The One Straw Revolution" by Masanoba Fukuoka, "Dirt the Ecstatic Skin of The Earth" by William Bryant Logan and "At Nature's Pace" by Gene Logsdon.
i still will stick with organic gardening over cides to provide my food supply.

I hope you do, more people should take an interest on how their food is grown. I also wish more people would get into farming of any kind instead of only criticizing it!! Where I live 70% of farmers are in their 60s (yes we do live that long) you tell me whats going to happen in the next 15-20 years.

poison is poison regardless if it is being used to produce "more" food for us. clean food, clean mind/body.

-I prefer the more alive your food is the more alive you feel. In that the more fresh food and unprocessed food you consume the better.

I feel some organic promoters are quite hypocritical as to their selectiveness on good technology they embrace or bad technology they deem poisons. They have no problem driving their air polluting vehicles to work everyday. No trouble paving over beautiful farm land to build houses that are full of toxins. No problem dumping their sewers in to rivers and lakes etc. You wouldn't believe all the gargabe, pastic and junk I have to pick off my fields! Ironically the most toxin exposure to the average person comes right from their own home. From building materials and carpets etc.

I sure dont have all the answers but I feel its far to easy to just blame all health issues on farming practices. When in reality what the average American daily diet and lifestyle has glaring problems to begin with. I guess a happy meduim has to be found somewhere.

We debate over things some would deem trivial. When something like every 10 seconds a kid dies in the world from drinking dirty water. Never mind if he/she even had a choice of eating corn flakes organic or not.