We are experiencing a biodiversity crisis, with a catastrophic decline in insect life, in part because of over-use of pesticide. And there are questions around the safety of glyphosate to our health (read how Bayer have agreed to pay out $US15.9b in cancer claims.
HOT NEWS from mid September 2020 – a quote from Lambeth Council:
..“glyphosate will be stopped completely when the new contracts come in [October 2021]…as part of our expectations of the new service which we have put out to tender is that bidders have to prove how they will manage invasive weed growth without glyphosate.”
So we still have a bit of time to wait for out streets to be glyphosate-free (Council owned estates are now glyphosate-free, as from Friday 7th August 2020, read here for this news) but many TMO’s are not. Did you know that your street is sprayed twice or three times a year?
So what can you do?
1. If you would like your street NOT to be sprayed this year, you can email streetchampions@lambeth.gov.uk and request ‘no harmful chemicals’. 30 streets have already opted out this year (2020).
2. Watch Sophie’s video here, as we move towards accepting weeds on our streets. and watch our Biodiversity webinar here.
Get Involved – Make Your Pledge TODAY!
Join us and pledge to go pesticide-free in your garden.
(Glyphosate is commonly known as Round Up)
Other actions you can take:
- write to your councillor asking them to ‘take the pledge’ too, if you don’t know who your councillor is, go here
- support the work of Pesticide Action Network UK and support their Pesticide-Free Towns Campaign.
- share this Pesticide Free document (see pdf) with Lambeth Councillors, TMO’s and Lambeth residents.
- get in touch with the IEL team with your own ideas for a campaign, and most importantly, if you’re not yet a member, join IEL!
