Asbestos

I just had an asbestos abatement guy out to see if our house had asbestos in the ceiling tiles or siding. He did not do any tests, but just looked. He said the siding probably does have asbestos, and the ceiling tiles probably don't. We will have to hire a testing company to find out for sure.

He went on to tell me that asbestos removal has been deregulated, and that any company can remove asbestos ceiling tiles and asbestos siding without following any guidelines to protect the homeowner. He said that OSHA still has rules for protecting workers, but that OSHA generally had no involvement in residential projects. So a homeowner could hire someone who would remove ceiling tiles and just rip them off releasing asbestos into the air. Your next door neighbor could have the asbestos siding pulled off their house and dropped onto the ground...

Weed-Free lawn or healthy children

It would seem the
choice is simple. Do you want to have a green, weed free lawn, or do you want a healthy planet and healthy people, including your own children and your neighbor's children. Yet many people put poison on their lawns.... Why?

In the book "The Lawn: A History of an American Obsession", author Virginia Scott Jenkins describes how the american lawn slowly developed due to a number of factors including the invention of the lawn mower, DDT, military base maintanaince during world war two, and advertising by the American Garden Club. The american lawn is not natural, and serves to make money for lawn maintanance companies and pesticide producers.

The chemicals people put on lawns to kill weeds are poisons, and they are causing health problems for people and pets. The chemicals don't disappear after a rain. They contaminate the soil and end up in the water supply.

Here are some links to organizations working on solving the problem: http://www.beyondpesticides.org

http://www.panna.org/