How Green Is Your Lawn?

Mitch Kennedy, ND

Consumers are forcing the $35 billion per year lawn and garden care industry to make space for organics. Stores like Lowe’s, Sears, and Home Depot, which traditionally have only sold synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, are selling record amounts of organic soils and fertilizers this spring. A recent survey from the National Gardening Association found that, while only 5% of U.S. households now use all-organic methods in their yards, some 21% said they would likely do so in the future. Studies over the past three decades have linked common lawn and garden chemicals with cancer and kidney or liver damage, particularly in children and pets. “Initially, it may feel harder, but in the long term, it’s easier,” says Scott Meyer, editor of Organic Gardening magazine. Studies have shown the typical “Chemlawn” yard has weak root systems, uses much more water, and does not provide healthy habitats for predatory insects and worms.

Source: http://www.organicconsumers.org/ofgu/lawn060418.cfm

Mitch Kennedy, ND has a family practice in Avon, CT, and is the first ND with clinical privileges at the University of Connecticut, a teaching hospital. Before graduation from Southwest College, Kennedy earned an international reputation as a leader in pollution prevention, showing industries around the world how preventing pollution saves money.