Ontario Pesticide Ban – Toronto Green Spaces Look Like Garbage Dumps – 2012 05 18

Overview

The 9|11 Era of Anti-Pesticide PROHIBITION.

In the City of Toronto …

Grassy Spaces Have a SCRUFFY and NEGLECTED LOOK.

Legions of Dandelion Stalks Are Topped by Puffs of White Seed.

Parks Are So Crowded With Weeds That the Grass WILL NEVER GROW FAST ENOUGH TO BECOME DOMINANT AGAIN.

Public Spaces Are Quite Literally GOING TO SEED.

The Grass Is LOSING.

The Lawns In Some Parks Are LITERALLY DESTROYED.

The Turf In Many Parks Is UNSALVAGEABLE.

There Has Been a Marked INCREASE in Weeds, Especially Dandelions, In Both Public and Private Properties.

They Are Mowing ONLY Weeds.

Anti-Pesticide PROHIBITION Destroyed Toronto’s Public and Residential Green Spaces by Turning Them Into GARBAGE DUMPS

Furthermore, Toronto’s Parks Officials Are IDIOTS.

They DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

No Wonder Toronto’s Green Spaces Look Like GARBAGE DUMPS.

The End Result of the Ontario PESTICIDE BAN …

Toronto’s Public Spaces Look Like GARBAGE DUMPS

Toronto’s Public Spaces Are Going To Seed

Lawn chemicals ban means Toronto’s public spaces are going to seed ( i.e. Look Like Garbage Dumps ).

One sunny morning this week, I went for a walk in David Balfour Park near Yonge and St. Clair.

Spreading across the roof of a reservoir, it used to be a well-tended expanse of green.

Now, like many parks and other grassy spaces, IT HAS A SCRUFFY, NEGLECTED LOOK.

The reason is simple.

Toronto restricted the use of lawn chemicals in 2004.

The Government of Ontario followed with a complete ban on cosmetic pesticides in 2009.

As a result, TORONTO’S PUBLIC SPACES ARE QUITE LITERALLY GOING TO SEED.

If you looked around any park, field or boulevard this week, you could see LEGIONS OF DANDELION STALKS TOPPED BY PUFFS OF WHITE SEED.

The city’s parks department confirms what any eye can see …

Since the chemicals ban, « THERE HAS BEEN A MARKED INCREASE IN WEEDS, ESPECIALLY DANDELIONS, IN BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PROPERTIES ».

Instead of spraying with pesticides, the city now cuts the grass more often: every five business days on average instead of every seven to 10. [ This cultural practice will NOT control weeds. ]

The aim is to « dead head » the weeds before they start spreading their seeds ( although if the state of David Balfour is any indication, the mowers often come too late ).

The city has also raised its mower blades to increase the cutting height to three inches. [ This cultural practice will NOT control weeds. ]

That is supposed to ease the stress on the grass and help it fight back against invading weeds. [ This cultural practice will NOT control weeds. ]

Lawn-care experts say IT IS NOT WORKING.

Kyle Tobin of LawnSavers Plant Health Care says that after a wet spring and dry summer last year …

… this is the WORST SEASON I’VE EVER SEEN for grubs and weeds, and I’ve been in the business 22 years.

Home-owners can control weeds with a concerted program of fertilizing, over-seeding and aerating the grass [ WRONG ! ], but, with 1,500 parks and 4,300 hectares of maintained turf to tend, the city DOESN’T HAVE THE MONEY FOR ANYTHING THAT AMBITIOUS, except on some experimental patches.

So, THE WEEDS ARE MOVING IN ― not just the almighty dandelion, but thistle, plantain, clover, black medic, spurge, knotweed and crabgrass, without even mentioning the poison ivy and toxic giant hogweed you find in Toronto ravines.

THE GRASS IS LOSING.

Already, says Mr. Tobin, THE TURF IN MANY PARKS IS UNSALVAGEABLE ― SO CROWDED WITH WEEDS THAT THE GRASS WILL NEVER GROW FAST ENOUGH TO BECOME DOMINANT AGAIN.

The lawns in some parks are « LITERALLY DESTROYED », he says.

« THEY ARE MOWING WEEDS. »

Many [ Anti-Pesticide Lunatics ] would say …

Fine, a few dandelions are a small price to pay for the health of children who play in the parks and roll on the lawns. [ WRONG ! ]

The problem is that there is NO PROOF that the banned weed control products harm anyone’s health.

In a review of the latest scientific evidence in 2008, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency determined that the most popular weed control product, 2,4-D, « meets Canada's strict health and safety standards, and as such can continue to be sold and used in Canada ».

Only this week, a special committee of British Columbia legislators concluded that there was no reason to question Health Canada’s judgment and impose an Anti-Pesticide PROHIBITION like Ontario.

According to British Columbia’s Special Committee On Cosmetic Pesticides, in an exhaustive 118-page report ―

The committee concluded that despite the intensity of arguments in favour of a ban on the cosmetic use of pesticides and a general misunderstanding of the risks associated with chemicals, there is INSUFFICIENT SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT A PROVINCE-WIDE BAN ON PESTICIDES for cosmetic use.

PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA – SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON COSMETIC PESTICIDES ( Web-Page )

http://wp.me/P1jq40-2c2

The ban on lawn chemicals was a triumph of fuzzy-headed environmentalism.

Since the Town of Hudson, Quebec, became the first jurisdiction to enact an anti-pesticide by-law in 1991, scores of municipalities and seven provinces have banned them, to varying extents.

You can spray pesticides on the FOOD CROPS WE EAT, BUT NOT THE GRASS we walk on.

You can use certain insecticides to KILL COCKROACHES in your house, but NOT GRUBS IN YOUR GRASS.

The whole idea of a neat, green lawn has come under attack.

Many see manicured stretches of grass as a crime against the planet, gobbling fertilizer and crowding out nature’s diversity.

Richard Ubbens is Toronto’s Director of Parks.

Dandelions, Ubbens insists, help relieve soil compaction and increase biodiversity, « providing organic edible greens for both people and wildlife ».

Ubbens is an IDIOT, and DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT ― No Wonder Toronto’s Green Spaces Look Like GARBAGE DUMPS.

According to Ubbens ―

Having a monoculture of turf or anything is never good. We are in a period of transition from the expectation of perfectly manicured, weed-free landscapes and the acceptance of weeds as natural presence in our urban landscape. [ WRONG ! ]

But healthy grass has its role.

It filters rainfall, controls erosion and cleans the air.

LawnSavers’ Mr. Tobin says the average household lawn produces more oxygen than a maple tree.

Grass looks nice, too.

What a shame we’re letting it succumb to the weeds.

Globe and Mail

May 18th, 2012

Selected and Adapted Excerpts

Catastrophic CARNAGE

Pesticide Bans result in Catastrophic CARNAGE caused by BAN FAILURES, BUSINESS FAILURES, GARBAGE DUMP GREEN SPACES, and STUNNINGLY EXORBITANT COSTS.

Pesticide Bans Destroyed Public and Residential Green Spaces by Turning Them Into GARBAGE DUMPS.

Summary of CATASTROPHIC CARNAGE Caused by GARBAGE DUMP GREEN SPACES …