In his Dec. 19 Maine Voices column (“Healthy lawns nurtured with synthetic fertilizers filter pollutants”), Bob Mann of Lawn Dawg, a lawn service company, tries to make the case that synthetic lawn chemicals are necessary for a healthy environment.
He cites the effectiveness of a healthy lawn in reducing runoff and filtering pollutants.
If this were true, then the state Shoreland Zoning Act would require us to clear waterfront properties and plant a lawn instead of requiring that naturally occurring tree and shrub cover be maintained.
He then wades into the mire of organic versus synthetic and the supposed safety of the latter.
We can conveniently ignore the lessons of DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbons that accumulated in the environment.
But what about the more recent example of Imprelis, implicated in the decimation of trees and shrubs on properties where it was applied to the lawn? An example of this can be seen on a site in Wells.
If Bob Mann is the professional he claims to be, he should quit his whining and prove that he can provide his clients with a healthy lawn using products allowed by Ogunquit’s new landscape chemicals ordinance.
If he can’t do that, maybe he should start planting those trees and shrubs we discussed earlier.
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