My upbringing on a family operated farm in eastern Ontario instilled in me the value of building a healthy soil by using crop rotation and organic fertilizers. We never used pesticides because there was a natural balance.
In those days, there was no such thing as “certified organic,” you just looked after the Earth so it could nourish the plants that nourished you. As a result of my farming experience, when I moved to North Vancouver in the late 1970s I came into conflict with the local nursery workers who advocated the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. I stood my ground, arguing that I knew of another way.
In the early part of this century, a small group of us fought to have pesticides banned from public use on the North Shore. After many years of meetings, protesting and speaking before council, West Vancouver finally created a bylaw in 2006 that prohibited the use of cosmetic pesticides.
Three more years of fighting, and despite protests from several members of the B.C. Landscape & Nursery Association, the District of North Vancouver passed a similar bylaw. North Vancouver City followed in 2010. Despite this, commercial landscape maintenance companies continue to use these pesticides.
Recently, two strata properties I am familiar with have experienced this. The quality of care for multi-residential properties could be greatly improved.
Generally little attention is given to pruning shrubs at the appropriate time to allow a good show of blooms, everything is just sheared into a blob shape when the company has time to get at it, often just before any surviving blooms appear. Soil is raked “clean,” removing all the organic matter in sight and eventually leaving the roots of the plants bare and exposed to the elements. This is a telltale sign of the skill level of these companies. Maintenance quality aside, the fact that companies are using and profiting from banned chemicals that endanger the health of the people and animals that live there is disgusting.
On one side of the street we hold workshops teaching the public how to increase habitat for pollinators, and on the other side, people are spraying chemicals that endanger our fragile environment. Even with 65 per cent of people in B.C. living in communities with pesticide-use bylaws, we are not really protected. People blatantly disregard the laws and non-essential lawn and garden pesticides continue to be sold in B.C. In addition, some municipal bylaws only apply to municipal and residential properties – institutional, commercial and industrial lands are still exempt and vulnerable.
I feel that events like the recent surge in forest fires and hurricanes are Mother Nature’s way of fighting back against humans for harming our planet so much.
Please contact your strata council and garden maintenance company and urge them to investigate the products being used in your environment and demand enforcement of cosmetic pesticide bans. You can download a copy of your municipal bylaw online to give to your strata council and maintenance company. We need to be vocal if we want to live in an environment free of toxic garden chemicals.
Heather Schamehorn is a certified residential landscape designer, educator, sustainability advocate and acupressure therapist. You can contact her at perennialpleasures.ca.
