The Garden Club of America and The Great Healthy Yard Project Partner

January 29, 2019

To Reduce Pesticides in our Backyards

The Garden Club of America is joining The Great Healthy Yard Project to reduce pesticide use on lawns and gardens across the United States. Synthetic chemicals can pose a danger to pets and wildlife and pollute our rivers and streams. The partnership encourages homeowners to “Take the Pledge” and protect the environment by eliminating the use of synthetic chemicals, weed-killers and fertilizers on lawns, and by not discarding pharmaceuticals down drains or toilets. Learn more about The Great Healthy Yard Project (TGHYP) and take the pledge.

Dr. Diane Lewis, a physician, mother, and member of the Bedford Garden Club in NY state, started The Great Healthy Yard Project, a nonprofit that raises awareness about the potential dangers of lawn chemicals and promotes signing a pledge to eliminate their home use. Chemicals used on lawns can be carried into streams, lakes, and reservoirs, and leach into the soil, contaminating groundwater aquifers, ultimately polluting drinking water and threatening human health and our environment. A study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) showed that almost every water and fish sample collected from streams and about half of all wells that were sampled contained at least one pesticide. Of those contaminated, most contained at least two chemicals. These contaminants are not removed by routine water treatment.

The GCA, in keeping with its mission to promote environmental awareness and preserve natural resources has embraced the vision of The Great Healthy Yard Project by encouraging GCA club members to take the pledge: “I pledge to take care of my yard without synthetic pesticides, weedkillers and fertilizers except on rare occasions to resolve an infestation or to improve habitat for native plants and wildlife. I also pledge not to throw pharmaceuticals down my drains or toilets.”  

Taking the pledge is an important and simple voluntary step to a cleaner safer water supply.

Pictured: Dr. Diane Lewis, Member, Bedford Garden Club

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