Fertilizer issues overstated
To the editor:
After reading Carl Veaux’s letter about the fertilizer ordinance that he feels the city council should adopt I have to ask him where he gets his information?
Two hundred thousand lawns are being fertilized in Cape Coral. There are 170,000 residents and 30,000 businesses. First of all, they surely do not all have lawns that are fertilized and for sure not all businesses even have a lawn. You say that fertilizer will foul our drinking water, cause red tide by creating huge algae blooms and make our canals look bad. You claim this alone will stop the red tide and algae blooms that may appear this summer. I have to ask you where you get your science from? I’m not sure if you have looked around, but there are more lawns not taking care of than there are. How about the foreclosures? I can guarantee they are not being fertilized. How many are vacant? Even when these homes are occupied, not everyone will take care of their lawns.
You say if these people are not fertilizing properly and the fertilizer goes directly into the canals.Who are you talking about, the homeowners? Trust me the professionals not only know what they are doing they surely do not want to waste any product going into the canals and they are aware of the environment. Maybe we should just ban fertilizer sales to the public. I have to ask you just how many homes are actually on canals? Seems as though the number of homes are dwindling that really even fertilize.
Of the 30,000 businesses in Cape Coral, how many are in offices and strip malls? Maybe you should get all the facts before you run around crying the world is coming to an end and exaggerating. Here are just a few things for you to ponder and should you like some scientific facts I can surely supply you with all you need.
1. Well-cared for lawns can significantly increase property values.
2. A healthy lawn is of utmost importance to our environment. A 50-foot by 50-foot lawn produces enough oxygen for a family of four.
3. Healthy lawns cool the atmosphere. Eight healthy front lawns alone have the cooling effect of 70 tons of air conditioning. Which is enough for 16 average homes.
4. Grass converts carbon dioxide to oxygen. A process that contaminants and trapping soil from erosion. Fresh filtered water returns to the underground water supply.
Mr. Veaux, we do have a need for healthy beautiful lawns, without fertilizer we cannot achieve this.
I strongly urge everyone to contact your councilman and the mayor with the real facts. Send them a copy of these few facts that I have listed. Believe me there are plenty more than this that are available should you do your research.
Jeff Bender
Cape Coral