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| Do the right thing – compost! = = = = = = = = = = = = = Dear Casual Gardener, Fall is finally here! I love the season, and every year I clean up the garden beds and celebrate with friends by having a party and a great bonfire of leaves and trash. Last year my neighbors complained and called the police even though I was burning on a day that was authorized by the city. I don’t understand what the big deal is – what do other people do with their fall garden mess? Leafy Lucy - - - - - Dear Lucy, According to the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago (www.lungchicago.org), “The asthma hospitalization rate in Chicago is nearly double the national average.” Allergies and asthma have increased at an exponential rate over the last five years. Burning leaves and burning in barrels significantly impacts this problem. In other words, you are physically hurting people in your neighborhood when you burn leaves and trash. When I drive through a neighborhood where someone is burning leaves, I get physically ill. My allergies and asthma are quite severe, and I am specifically allergic to molds. When moldy leaves and wet trash gets burnt and I am anywhere near the burning, I inhale the microscopic molds from the smoke and end up ill for weeks from one exposure. I have to use lots of prescriptions to overcome this single burning experience. This is how burning can affect one life. Imagine how it affects your entire neighborhood’s health! Imagine how much it costs people to have to use medicines and go to doctors to overcome health issues because of burning! Burn barrels are even more of a threat and are contributing, in my opinion, to the American medical crisis. Burning garbage creates permanent concentrations of dioxin, one of the most toxic of poisons and carcinogens. Burning household trash in one backyard barrel may release more dioxins, furans, and other chlorine-containing pollutants into the air than a municipal waste incinerator, which has special filters in place, serving tens of thousands of homes. The State of Nevada Bureau of Air Quality Planning has called dioxin ‘the most lethal human-made poison.’ Dioxin does not break down or pass out of our bodies; it accumulates in fat cells, and it has been linked to several types of cancer, reproductive disorders, diabetes, higher infant mortality, ADHD, and a long list of other ailments. Burning trash in a busy suburban region IS ILLEGAL and is simply selfish and inconsiderate of your fellow human beings who need to breathe. If anyone in your neighborhood is burning garbage CALL THE POLICE. I urge you to do something about it; do not expect other people to be responsible. Be responsible yourself and help your neighbors. Call it in anonymously if you have to, but please report your neighbors who are burning leaves and garbage illegally. Lucy, in answer to your question about what to do with your fall garden mess, while it is still legal in most communities to burn leaves, I highly recommend you do not. You are enlarging your carbon footprint by releasing carbon, mold, and toxins into the air – not a very “green” practice and dangerous to allergy and asthma sufferers who live in your neighborhood. Instead, compost garden waste and leaves on a corner of your property. It flattens out quickly and soon becomes organic compost “gold” for your garden beds. At my home, I do not clean up the garden beds in fall. There are many reasons: chiefly, the extra mulch matter functions as an insulator through the winter and protects the roots of the perennials. In the spring, I often have many perennials which have gone to seed, giving me extra plants I can use in the garden next year, which is an added benefit of leaving your garden matter through the winter. If you have no space at all to compost, consider mowing the leaves over with a mulching mower, than spreading them on top of your garden beds. If you do this heavily, you will smother out the perennials; however, if you do it with a light hand, it will function as a protective mulch. Remember - do not burn garbage or trash. Try composting leaves instead of burning them for the health of your neighbors. We depend on YOU to take care of your neighborhood; it is not someone else’s responsibility to do this – it is each and every homeowner’s responsibility to the world. Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com |
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