My brother came by on the weekend and played devils advocate on the pesticide bylaw presentation I am helping to write.
He got me thinking about what it is we are trying to do with our request to city council to introduce a bylaw.
He said, "What about the average Joe who has lived in the same house for 50 years and every spring has sprayed pesticides on his perfect green lawn and nothing happened to him or his family. What gives you the right to force him to change?"
And I did not have an answer to that question.
But then again I do not have an answer on how to fix climate change, how to wean us off the car or how the U.S. can exit Iraq. I don't have a lot of answers.
The best answer I could come up with was, "How smart is it to pour chemicals all over a lawn?" Pretty pathetic.
We can quote studies, show charts, talk about people dying and generally play the emotional card but will that do any good? If I was a councilor I know exactly how I would vote on this issue but what if I had 60% of my constituents who said "Piss off, I love my chemicals and green lawn and I am not hurting anyone."?
Actually I still know how I would vote - we need elected officials with a clear, concise, green, smart mandate. As long as their mandate is the same as mine of course ;-).
Does anyone have any answers to these conundrums?
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2 comments:
Banning pesticides is a waste of time - we should be concentrating on important issues you wanker.
This is an important issue. The wanker is the anonymous poster.
I have been working on this issue for 8-years in Hamilton.
Please call me if you would like answers to your questions.
Pete Wobschall
905-540-8787 ext 17
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