Alternatives to Pesticides
Aesthetic Pesticide Ban Bill
Organic Lawn Care Tips
Organic Lawn educational forums
Organic Landscaper List
Pesticide Alternatives Project
Toxic-Free Schools
Prevention Is The Cure™
Neighbor Notification of Pesticide Spraying
Mosquito Management
Suffolk County Homestead A-Syst Task Force
Nassau County Pesticide Advisory Committee
Organic Golf
Workshop for landscapers in Spanish
Pesticides are dangerous.
With each passing year evidence of the dangers of pesticides mounts. Studies have linked pesticides to breast, brain and lymphatic cancer. The EPA and the National Academy of Sciences have warned that exposure to neurotoxic pesticides can result in permanent neurological dysfunction. Devastating impact of endocrine disrupting pesticides on the immune and reproductive systems of wildlife populations has been documented, suggesting they are the cause of similar trends in humans.
Residential pesticide exposures are common and widespread.
The value that has been placed on green lawns and perfect trees and shrubs, the vast amount of advertising of chemical pesticides, the relative lack of knowledge of the public of the dangers of pesticides, and the close proximity of neighbors in suburban and urban areas combine to make pesticide exposures almost inevitable. On Long Island which has the Nation's first and most prototypical suburbs this is certainly the case. The situation is worsened by the fact that all drinking water on Long Island is supplied by ground water, several wells have been closed due to pesticide contamination
Pesticide use and pesticide exposures can be eliminated.
Safer pest control methods exist and are being used successfully around the Nation. In order to reduce pesticide exposures we must be aware of the dangers of pesticides and educate ourselves about alternative pest control methods. Non-pesticide pest control products and services must be made as easily available to consumers as pesticides and pesticide dependent services.
Pesticide Alternatives Project
The Neighborhood Network publishes a Long Island Organic Lawn Guide and Environmental Resource Directory which contains: Organic Product Descriptions, Advertisers, Web sites, Recommended Stores, Recommended Mail Order Catalogues, Organic Landscapers, plus a comprehensive set of organic lawn care tips designed to keep your part of Long Island green and clean. Order the most recent edition.
Pesticide Alternative Project Survey of alternative product availability in Long Island stores.
Survey press release
List of Recommended Stores
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Volunteers Wanted
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The Neighborhood Network is again conducting our survey of Long Island lawn and garden stores, to provide Long Islanders with information on the best places to find products for safer, organic lawn and garden care. Would you like to contribute to the effort?
It only takes about 20 minutes to complete each survey form. If you would like to help by surveying your favorite source for organic lawn care and gardeing supplies, or other stores in your area, please contact us at:
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4 Steps to an Organic Lawn
Compost
Repel mosquitoes from your property with garlic
A non-pesticide approach to dealing with fleas
Suffolk County Homestead A-Syst Task Force
Neighborhood Network Executive Director, Neal Lewis has been appointed to the Suffolk County Homestead A-Syst Task Force, which was created to develop an informational program for Suffolk residents on the risks associated with pesticide and fertilizer use, methods to reduce these risks, and safer alternatives for maintaining lawns and gardens.
The Task Force is holding a series of public hearing to solicit input from the public on the recommendations it will be making to the Suffolk County Legislature.
Hearing Schedule:
- Friday, March 9th, 2007, 11:00 AM
Wm.H. Rogers Bldg. auditorium, Hauppauge
- Thursday, March 22nd, 2007, 11:00 AM
County Center auditorium, Riverhead
- Thursday, April 5th, 2007, 11:00 AM
Wm. H. Rogers Bldg.auditorium, Hauppauge
Mosquito Management
 Since late 1999 in the New York City and Long Island region, some common house mosquitoes, Culex Pipiens, became carriers of the exotic West Nile Virus. The problem was highly publicized by the media, which focused great attention on the encephalitis caused, in rare cases, by the virus (which mosquitoes transmit from birds). Local officials responded to the alarm with a massive aerial pesticide spraying program.
Control of insect disease carriers such as mosquitoes is an important public health activity, but large-scale spraying of pesticides carries its own health and environmental threats, and is of limited long-term effectiveness.
The Neighborhood Network has been working to promote a rational approach to mosquito control, based on controlling mosquito breeding areas and larvae. Mosquito prevention and "larviciding" is more effective and safer for human health and the environment than broadcast spraying of chemicals intended to kill adult mosquitoes.
Mosquito prevention tips for homeowners
Facts about chemicals used for mosquito "adulticide" spraying
Golf and the Environment
Long Island golf courses can and should be managed in a fashion that is not harmful to either the environment or public health.
The primary goal of Organic Golf is to see all Long Island golf courses reduce and work towards the goal of ultimately eliminating synthetic pesticide use by implementing organic management practices at existing golf courses, and to support an organic standard for the construction of any new golf courses.
The Suffolk County Legislature has approved a settlement in a lawsuit brought by Neighborhood Network. This settlement will result in organically constructed and maintained golf courses in Yaphank, New York.
Nassau County Pesticide Advisory Committee
Nassau County has adopted a policy of eliminating or reducing pesticide use in County buildings and on County owned property. Neal Lewis executive director of the Long Island Neighborhood Network serves on the Nassau Health department's Pesticide Advisory Committee, which is charged with developing overseeing the County's Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies.
The Pesticide Advisory Committee has proved very successful, indoor pesticide use in County buildings has been drastically reduced. This year the Committee will focus on outdoor use on county parks, golf courses and other county properties.
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