We need new ideas to build a viable environment for the future
To the Expositor:
In response to the recent article “Manitoulin Municipal Association supports glyphosate use until alternate products available” (March 26, Page 1) as reported by Jacqueline St. Pierre, I was dismayed and saddened to hear the ruling this week. And on the heels of this decision, this news article was just reported this weekend on CBS News. The headline is as follows: ‘Millions of bees have died this year. It’s “the worst bee loss in recorded history,” one beekeeper says.’
And from another Canadian paper, The National Post, this same weekend the headline is as follows: ‘A fifth of North America’s pollinating species at risk of extinction.’
I have a few questions for the Manitoulin Municipal Association.
Why not consider at least a reduction in the dose of this ubiquitous chemical, at least the roadside applications/Hydro One stations? Again I quote, “the dose makes the poison.”
Who is looking into viable options? I can assure you the CEOs and stockholders of these chemical companies are not. Interestingly, if one goes into Williamson’s Hardware Roundup is in a glass cabinet with two options: Regular Roundup, which contains glyphosate, and Roundup Advanced, which contains acetic acid, otherwise known as vinegar. It seems to me that even Bayer admits there is an alternative.
In the meantime the Island, with the exception of Wiikwemkoong which has a full ban on glyphosate, will continue to allow this chemical to be widely used, and although we may have less phragmites, less milkweed, less dandelions and more cash crops…at what cost? What else will we have less of? If the trend in the south is to follow here we will see impacts on our pollinators, our fruit trees, our vegetable gardens, our insectivore bird populations and our spawning fish, to name a few.
I am also reminded of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave as it reminds me of the difficulty of changing the status quo and the potential for resistance to new ideas. In the end, if this ruling is citing the need for a viable alternative, then I suggest that we immediately need new ideas as we are talking about a future, viable environment. Let’s get out of this cave.
Janice Mitchell
Tehkummah
