Dear (council member),

As one of your constituents here in (community), I'm writing to remind you of my ongoing concern about the use of pesticides in our communities.
Those who have a vested, personal interest in the use of pesticides sometimes cite the lack of definitive proof that pesticides are dangerous to human health. This is a spurious argument.

Though we may not have absolute proof of the danger of pesticides, especially in the long-term - we cannot conduct tests in a lab on pregnant women and children -(there's another principle involved here, too, a moral one )- we do have evidence as medical associations will readily testify, linking pesticide use with various illnesses.

There's also a philosophical divide here. I'm speaking from a profound sense of the interconnectedness of all life, beyond our human capacities to totally understand.

In nature, predators and prey are in a dance that sustains a balance. Pesticides are not as discriminating - they wipe out beneficial plants and animals as well as noxious ones. Furthermore, they are airborne, affecting everyone's respiratory systems and adding yet another set of ingredients into an already increasingly toxic mix.
Pelletized pesticide products are mistaken for gravel by songbirds, and can cause rapid death in large numbers.

We track pesticides into our homes where they remain in carpets and upholstery, since they don't break down inside the home as quickly as they do outside.

So, as stewards of Earth more than as consumers or competitors for the most pristine ( read sterile?) lawns, we all need to find viable alternatives to dangerous chemicals whose origins are in warfare. Fortunately, many exist. More and more lawn care companies are turning to organic methods as being successfully nourishing to the environment and economically rewarding.

One excellent and helpful resource here in Peterborough is Peterborough Green-up. I know farmers are also constituents of yours, and I appreciate their struggles to survive in competition with large agribusinesses. They should be exempt from the ban but provisions should be included for the responsible use of pesticides as a last resort on farmlands - the produce of which we buy in our local markets. I hope you will support legislation to ban the use of pesticides in (our community)

Yours truly,


Let's learn to love the land we live on.