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Aug 26

Fall Tips for a Pesticide Free Yard

With this year’s drought, growing water-wise, pollinator-friendly yards is more important than ever. Whether you’re investing in water conservation landscaping or working on maintaining the vitality of your lawn after our extreme summer, going pesticide free can help keep your yard – and community – healthy and flourishing.

Pesticides can pose health risks, especially for children, pregnant women, and older populations. Many pesticides are also linked to declines in bird and pollinator populations. Eliminating the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers is a great step towards protecting our community from harmful chemicals.

Establishing a healthy organic yard may require a little extra work up front, and fall is the perfect time to get started!

We’ve gathered some of our best tips and resources to help you restore soil health in your yard and eliminate pesticides in your lawn care. Check it out!

Graphic includes a photo of bright green grass on a teal, green, and chartreuse, backdrop. Text in white reads "Pesticide Free Lawn Care Organic lawn care is simple! And now is the time to start!" with the SLCgreen logo.
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Feb 16

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Get Ready for Spring: Go Pesticide Free!

Does all this snow have some of you daydreaming about spring and gardening?  

Luckily spring is just around the corner, and now is a great time to start planning a pesticide free yard, garden, and home! Pesticides are often used on lawns and in gardens to limit weeds and associated pests. Unfortunately, pesticides (including herbicides, rodenticides, insecticides, and fungicides) have negative health impacts on people and the environment. 

Being pesticide free means choosing methods of controlling these weeds and pests in ways that are healthy for the environment and for you and your family!  

Salt Lake City has been working with Healthy Babies Bright Futures since 2016 to reduce exposures to harmful chemicals—many of which we unknowingly come in contact with on a daily basis. A common source of harmful chemical exposure is through pesticides and lawn fertilizer use. Salt Lake City’s Sustainability Department partnered with Beyond Pesticides to create a public resource guide for a less toxic approach to pest management and lawn care.

Why are pesticides an issue? 

Chemical pesticide use and exposure have been shown to have negative health effects on humans. Serious health effects of pesticide exposure include birth defects, childhood cancer, acute poisoning, brain tumors, and asthma. Avoiding pesticides in your yards will help protect the health of our communities.

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Feb 27

Pesticide Free Tip: Prune now to prevent pests

by Sydney Boogaard

Winter is coming to a close as we begin to pack away our heavy coats and gloves. We may be sad to see the skis go back into the basement, but soon we’ll bring out the mountain bikes and hiking shoes. And as the temperature begins to rise we can head back into our gardens and yards.

Tree budding

Our trees and plants have been snoozing the winter away and it is time for them to wake back up. Just like us, our trees are a little groggy and sleepy, from their long nap. The harsh elements of the winter have damaged and weakened their branches and stems. This makes them even more susceptible to pest invasion. Nonetheless, with a little tender loving care we can help rejuvenate our trees, keeping them strong, happy, healthy and pesticide free.

Join our #PesticideFreeSLC campaign and pledge to keep our yards healthy and our bodies safe! Check out our resource guide for tips and visit our past blogs on organic landscaping to get started.

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Sep 19

It’s Not Too Late: Go Pesticide Free!

Since last spring, little green hexagonal signs have been blooming in Salt Lake City gardens. These Pesticide Free Yard signs are part of the Salt Lake City Pesticide Free Campaign in partnership with Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF). HBBF encourages residents to protect our families and the environment by eliminating pesticide use.

Salt Lake City’s Sustainability Department teamed up with Beyond Pesticides to guide residents who want to keep their gardens beautiful without using harmful chemicals. And it’s working! Since 2018, over 340 individuals have pledged to go pesticide free.

And even though summer is coming to a close, you can still go pesticide free in your yard. Eliminating your use of toxic chemicals is a year-round challenge that will protect your family and neighborhood.

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May 26

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Be(e) Pesticide Free for Pollinators!

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by Sydney Boogaard, SLCgreen intern

Spring and summer weather is welcomed with open arms after cold grey winters. Maybe, it’s getting back into the mountains to hike, bike, and sightsee; or spending time in the yard gardening, barbecuing, and playing fetch.

Whatever it is you enjoy outside this season we hope you have the privilege of seeing some beautiful pearl crescent butterflies, ruby-throated hummingbirds, or fuzzy honeybees. We encourage you to admire and celebrate their presence—for they provide us with vital plant reproduction and are essential to our natural and agricultural ecosystems.

Unfortunately, the population of these important pollinators is on a troublesome decline. In 2007, the National Research Council reported on that one of the sources of this decline is connected to pesticide exposure. Pesticides contain many chemicals that reduce pollinators’ defense systems, disrupt digestion, impair their navigation abilities, and limit their ability to reproduce.

Thus, we hope you will joins us in protecting our honeybees, hummingbirds, butterflies, and all pollinators by going Pesticide Free! Join us in thanking them for their crucial services by giving them the best shot at a healthy and productive life — say no to pesticides and take the Pesticide Free Pledge.  

The Honeybee

Honeybees have been around for millions and millions of years. During this time  they have provided humans with their wax, honey, and pollinating services.

Did you know honeybees are the only insect that produce food that humans eat? They travel up to six miles in a trip and fly up to 15 miles per hour, all while beating their wings 200 times per second—talk about a workout.  Over time, bees have also learned to communicate with one another through dance. They communicate a sense of time, direction, and distance to convey the location of promising pollen and nectar. Needless to say, these creatures are incredibly impressive. Read more

Mar 16

Pledge to be Pesticide Free this Spring!

By Sydney Boogaard, spring intern

Spring is around the corner and that means it’s time for many of us to get serious about yard and garden work.

Whether you’re making a new landscape plan, planting fruit trees, beautifying with ornamentals, growing veggies, or maintaining a lawn, we invite you to join our #PesticideFreeSLC campaign and pledge to keep the chemicals out of your yard!

You may recall that last November we announced this campaign, which is part of our work with the Healthy Babies Bright Future alliance. Our goal with this partnership is to empower community members to reduce exposures to certain chemicals– beginning with pesticides– that have been found risky and dangerous to babies in the first 1,000 days of life.

This spring, we’re posting regular tips and tricks on when and how to prep your lawn and garden without the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

Follow along, ask questions, and join us in creating a #PesticideFreeSLC!

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Nov 15

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Join the Pesticide Free SLC Campaign!

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As you may know, Salt Lake City has partnered with the Healthy Babies Bright Futures alliance to conduct an assessment and implement approaches to reduce exposure to certain chemicals deemed most risky for babies in their first 1,000 days of development.

One of the ways we’re doing that is by piloting organic turf management at two Salt Lake City parks, with the goal of adding more City properties.

Now we’re asking you to join us! Take the pledge to be Pesticide Free in your landscaping. You’ll get a yard sign, as well as a helpful toolkit for how to use organic methods at your home or businesses.

“Pesticide Free SLC” is a public campaign to educate and encourage Salt Lake City residents and businesses to phase out chemical pesticide, herbicide, and fertilizer use from their landscaping. Read more

Jul 21

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Reduce Your Pesticide Intake from Food

by Sydney Boogaard, SLCgreen intern

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The spring and summer months are the perfect time to barbecue and picnic. Which means delicious fruits and veggies. Because let’s be honest, no picnic is complete without a scrumptious apple or pear. Unfortunately, our tasty produce is also a common source of consuming harmful chemicals from pesticide residue.

Fruits and vegetables that are grown conventionally are often exposed to many pesticides before they are shipped to our local grocery stores.

Luckily there are effective and natural alternatives to reduce the amount of chemicals we ingest. Join our #PesticideFreeSLC campaign and pledge to keep our bodies, yards, and ecosystems healthy, happy, and safe by going pesticide free!

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Jun 30

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Say “No” to Pesticides to Protect Your Health

by Sydney Boogaard, SLCgreen intern

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Most pesticides and fertilizers used today are produced with harmful chemicals that even when used correctly can have adverse effects on human health.

Common diseases that have affected public’s health in the 21st century include asthma, autism, birth defects, reproductive dysfunction, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and several types of cancer. They all have ties to pesticide exposure and there are many more that are directly connected to pesticide exposure.

Recent studies show that most homes in the United States have measurable amounts of pesticide residue in the home.

Children in particular are at a higher risk of exposure to these chemicals, due to their size and exploratory nature. They are more prone to place household items and objects that could be contaminated into their hands and mouths. Kids enjoying playing in the dirt, rolling around in the grass, and climbing trees; all potential sources for pesticide interaction. Compared to adults, children also have a proportionally higher intake of food, water, and air, further increasing their chemical exposure.

By limiting your pesticide and chemical fertilizer use you are reducing their exposures, providing a safe and healthy home for yourself and your loved ones. We hope you will go Pesticide Free this growing season and take The Pledge to be a #PesticideFreeSLC.

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Apr 13

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Organic Alternatives to Chemical Pesticides

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by Sydney Boogaard, spring intern

Why use alternatives to pesticides?

If you have the privilege of having a lawn or garden, you aim to keep it lush, green, and pest free. In order to obtain this, many resort to the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. While these products may be effective, they are also harmful, not only to the ecosystem, but our own human health. Most fertilizers and pesticides are manufactured with chemicals that can hurt human health; as research has shown even regulated pesticides cause damage, and all the effects have not yet been studied.

Fortunately, there are cost-effective natural alternatives to pesticides and fertilizers that will help you attain that healthy pest free yard, all while being pesticide free. Join our #PesticideFreeSLC campaign and pledge to keep our yards healthy and our bodies safe! Read more

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