PROVIDENCE – It is springtime in southern New England. In addition to all those bright colors of daffodils and tulips in bloom and buds on the maple trees emerging in a natural pointillist canvas, there are those annoying harbingers of an increasingly toxic landscape: yellow and white flags sprouting up, warning of toxic chemicals applied to lawns, with their alluring promise of a greener future but the reality of a more silent spring.

The lawn may be “greener” in color, but at what cost to the families, children and pets playing on those lawns? What about the irreparable harm caused in the poisoning of bees and other pollinators and beneficial creatures?

The facts are surprising and chilling, according to the national advocacy group, Beyond Pesticides:

• The National Academy of Sciences estimates 50 percent of lifetime pesticide exposure occurs during the first five years of life.

• A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute finds home and garden pesticide use can increase the risk of childhood leukemia by almost seven times.

• Studies show low levels of exposure to actual lawn pesticides are linked to increased rates of miscarriage, and suppression of the nervous, endocrine and immune systems.

• Exposure to home and garden pesticides can increase a child’s likelihood of developing asthma.

• Studies link pesticides with hyperactivity, developmental delays, behavioral disorders and motor dysfunction.

• Children aged 6-11 have higher levels of lawn chemicals in their blood than all other age categories. Biomonitoring studies find that pesticides pass from mother to child through umbilical cord blood and breast milk.

As with the difference between good taste and tasting good, a greener lawn isn’t necessarily a greener lifestyle; rather, it often serves as a sprinkler system for toxic chemicals.

As Pogo once warned us, we have met the enemy and he is us: our desire for a greener lawn often leads to our own self-dosing with toxins.

All change begins on the inside, as Dr. Martin Luther King said. Being greener begins with personal choices in the way we lead our lives, and treat our lawns.

As detailed in the three companion articles, there are many ways to have a healthy, greener lawn without resorting to toxic herbicides, pesticides and lawn treatments.

But, beyond taking that individual step forward, we need a way to celebrate and to share that positive choice with friends, family and neighbors, and, in doing so, change the conversation and the practice.

One lawn at a time
Odds are, that you or many of your neighbors may be susceptible to the lure of advertising, like the one in a recent circular from a popular Rhode Island discount store, which offered a well-known fertilizer product with a manufacturer’s rebate and a gift card, in the urge to render their lawn greener – and unwittingly more toxic.

In an effort to increase consumer awareness about the use of pesticides and lawn fertilizers,  ecoRI News and ConvergenceRI, to help celebrate Earth Day on April 22, are sponsoring a “Bee Vigilant” campaign.

Post these green flags on your lawn or in a window, to help bring attention to the continued overuse of lawn poisons. [See link to print out flag below.]

Post it on your Facebook page. Take photos of your dogs and kids playing on your lawn with the sign in the image. Hand them out at the farmer’s market. It’s your world, and it’s your choice, to help bring attention to the continued overuse of lawn poisons.

This campaign doesn’t require legislative action; it doesn’t cost you any money; you don’t have to register online to post a comment; you can be a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, a Moderate or even a Cool Moose.

[We believe that it is a much more effective slogan than, say, cooler & warmer, and it didn’t cost $5 million to design and implement and market. For transparency purposes, the total cost of the effort was three coffees and three lattés at Olga’s Cup + Saucer, less than $20 – along with some pro bono writing and designing time.]

The origins of the idea go back to July 2015, when Joanna Detz, cofounder of ecoRI News, and I were guests of Ted Nesi on WPRI’s “Executive Suite.” As we walked out of the studio after taping, we discussed ways in which our organizations might collaborate on a project: the idea of addressing pesticides on lawns was first mentioned.

What we hope the Bee Vigilant campaign does is to create a new kind of engaged community in today’s very digital world. Neither ConvergenceRI nor ecoRI News can make any promises about what will happen if you plant one of these do-it-yourself flags in your lawn.

Will your lawn be healthier? We expect so. Toxic chemicals and fertilizers often degrade the soil, causing you and your lawn to be more dependent on more and more applications, according to organic lawn-care experts.

Will you enjoy your lawn more? We believe so.

Will you save money? Perhaps. Building your own compost pile is a lot cheaper than buying poison-laden fertilizers and pesticides. But investing in healthier, safer organic products to protect pollinators may cost a bit more upfront.

Will birds, bees, butterflies and beneficial insects thank you? Their renewed presence will speak volumes.

Why Bee Vigilant?
The numbers, once again, are scary and surprising. As a recent New York Times article reported, “The birds and the bees need help. Also, the butterflies, moths, wasps, beetles and bats.”

A recent report on the global assessment of the threats to pollinators warned that an increasing number of species are at risk of extinction, including 16 percent of vertebrates such as birds and bats, and at least 9 percent of bees and butterflies.

From a macroeconomic view, the global assessment talked about how pollinators, including some 20,000 species of wild bees, contribute to the growth of fruit, vegetables and many nuts, as well as flowering plants. It also noted that plants that depend on pollination make up some 35 percent of the global crop production volume, with a value estimated to be as much as $577 billion a year.

One of the noted bad actors in this drama is a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, or neonics, for short. They are among the most widely used insecticides in the United States and worldwide. They are marketed by European chemical giants Syngenta and Bayer. Neonics are a potent class of systemic pesticides introduced to agriculture in the 1990s.

Products that contain this insecticide include Knockout Ready-To-Use Grub Killer, Ortho Bug B Gon and All-In-One Rose & Flower Care, among others, according to Beyond Pesticides.

Neonicotinoids have been linked by a number of studies to the decline in bees.

The Maryland Legislature recently enacted a law, awaiting the signature of the governor, to ban their use beginning in 2018. Maryland would be the first state to enact such a ban.

Here in Rhode Island, there has been a strong pushback about enacting similar legislation. During a March 23 Senate Environment and Agricultural Committee hearing to discuss a bill that would ban or severely restrict the use of some neonicotinoids in Rhode Island, the continued use of the bug killer received endorsements from a number of state officials, local farmers and scientists. [See link to ecoRI News article below.]

There is much that needs to be done, in terms of the research and studies, to determine the consequences that herbicide-resistant GMO crops – soy, cotton, rice, rapeseed [canola oil], and corn that now dominate U.S. and global agricultural – are having on the ecosystem. In particular, more research is needed about the way such toxins may be disrupting the human gut microbiome.

[The role of Monsanto, and the company’s massive political and legal efforts in promoting such agricultural practices, is worthy of much more discussion; our goal here is to empower citizens of Rhode Island to become more effective consumers and choose more environmentally friendly products.]

Milkweed plants, which once thrived in North America, are in a precipitous decline, allegedly as a result of such agricultural practices. In return, the number of monarch butterflies, which lay their eggs on milkweed as they travel from their winter home in Mexico northward, have dwindled, so much so that some scientists are worried they could be extinct in 20 years, according to a recent article in Scientific Reports.

The problem, according to John Pleasants, an ecologist at Iowa State University, is that the United States has lost an estimated 1 billion milkweed plants since the 1990s, in large part because of herbicide spraying on cropland in the Midwest.

The efforts to reform global agricultural practices, conduct independent research or even establish “butterfly zones” are long-term solutions, worthy of investment.

In the meantime, Bee Vigilant offers a way for consumers to show their true colors, to take immediate, effective and positive action at the individual consumer level. The marketplace sometimes does listen to and respond to consumers’ voice; there’s a reason why the market for organic products grew a phenomenal 11 percent last year.

Richard Asinof is the editor and publisher of ConvergenceRI, an online weekly newsletter launched in September of 2013.