Rachel Carson, Where the hell are you when we need you ?

It is late July of 2016, the weather is nearly unbearable in most of the country.  Heat Index of 100 or better.  Staying cool is a priority.  I walk the dog at 6 AM and it is already 80 degrees.  On my travels I find a little tag  or flag displayed on a lawn,  I have seen these many times before.  In fact every other house, or so it seems, has one or more displayed on any given walk.  I have begun to see so many of them that they are really giving me pause.

I pick one up today.

I have been wondering about this stuff for awhile.  But it really got my attention when I saw these guys show up with tank sprayers and do the deed.

What are the pest that require eradication from a suburban lawn, and where does the residue go and is it necessary to treat on a bi weekly basis.  What are we doing ?  In my youth, a lawn got a shot of fertilizer in the spring with a treatment of lime and that was it.  If it didn't rain, it did not get watered, junior was sent out with the lawn mower once a week and told to cut the grass. and by summer's end it was a golden crispy beige color.  It would rebound come spring and the cycle would start anew.  Not so in the modern era, fewer and fewer homeowners do their own lawns, now an army of attackers show up with wide swath mowers they ride, deafening blowers and edgers and whackers of the smoke spewing two cycle variety.  Their coordinated efforts get them off the property in just  under 20 minutes.  They ply this trade along the route. Most of the foot solders speak no English and are nut brown from being in the sun, the boss comes by later to check, he is the boss because he is in the Escalade and acts as if his minions have performed an act of great social service. His hair is clipped as close as the lawy. His tan is not from the sun , but from the salon, his muscles are not from the wrok but from the gym. These days everyone has a landscaper or everyone is a landscaper.. Later in the week they come with the backpack sprayers and liberally coat the yard with killing juices..

I mentioned this in conversation with my sister last week.  We wondered what the long term effect is.
Autism, mental illnesses, endocrinological disorders, even perhaps sexual identification issues all of which seemingly are in greater abundance..  I just wonder.  It is running off into the water you know, there is no denying that simple fact.  Water

As I left for work this motning, I went around the block, the little bus was stopped to pick up a child, whose legs were atrophied, he was being taken to a chool or camp no doubt, his mother and grandmother were curbside as the driver and aid loaded his chair into the bus with some effort..
I had to wait as the stop sign was out on the side of the bus, so I got to observe the child and the lengthy process to get him aboard.  It was then that my conversation with my sister came back to me. This child had apparent cognitive  issues, to my untrained eye it looked like yet another case of autism.  About 1 in every 100 children in NJ is so affected.  We need to get a handle on it


And then I got to wondering again.     Ouch
My lawn is not so important.