Using only organic fertilizer on the Hopkinton Common is an idea long overdue. I watch children and dogs rolling on the grass and families eating sitting on the ground. Pesticides and herbicides are increasingly implicated in multiple health problems, often after being approved by the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency]. The current biodiversity conference has a goal of eliminating one half to two-thirds of pesticide use worldwide.

When we focus on how things look on the surface, forgetting more important underlying issues such as health and well being, we are failing as planetary citizens. Town committees are still considering dumping herbicides in Lake Maspenock. How can we be so shortsighted? Many pesticides contain PFAS, which have already polluted our drinking water. I for one, would rather look at a “tossed salad” than a child or dog sickened by harmful chemicals. Grass does not have to be a monoculture but can support the life and biodiversity on which we all depend.

— Carol Esler, Hopkinton

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