Using pesticides on our lawns and on our food

A couple years ago, my husband and I were using pesticides on our lawn. When I think back to that time, I cringe. I just didn't know they were bad. In the last couple years, as I started meditating and researching spirituality, I naturally started to care about the planet and all living things. As part of this big spiritual awakening I had, I also started to read books by climate scientists. I admit that I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't know the facts about climate change earlier but now I do and it's important for me to share what I know.

The fact is that pesticides are poisons and they cause cancer. Scientists wrote in a 2024 study published in Frontiers, "Our findings demonstrated an association between pesticide use and increased incidence of leukemia; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; bladder, colon, lung, and pancreatic cancer" (reference here).

The study also goes on to say, "Glyphosate, marketed as Roundup, is a common herbicide with an average of 280 million pounds applied to 298 crop acres yearly. Some studies have shown a correlation between exposure to glyphosate and an increased risk of lymphoma".

As I was jogging with my dog in my neighborhood the last couple months, I kept seeing the signs pictured above saying, "Caution Pesticide Application". You can imagine what was going through my mind seeing all these signs in my neighborhood. First of all, dogs and children don't care if there's a pesticide sign in the front yard. Dogs will still walk in the grass and try to pee there. When the dog walks in the grass, they will get pesticides on their paws. So now, when my dog walks in my house and jumps on my bed, I'll have pesticides in my bed and all over my house. You see where I'm going with this. The same can be said for a child that walks in grass with their shoes and then walks in the house.

Pesticides are also a major issue for nature as well. They severely harm pollinators and beneficial insects. Bees are important pollinators, they move pollen between flowers, which enables the growth of fruits, vegetables, and seeds. "In 2015, a modeling study in the Lancet found that if all of the world’s pollinators were to collapse, an additional 1.4 million people would die every year from malnutrition-related diseases". The article goes on to say, "About three-quarters of all agricultural crops rely on pollinator services" (reference here and study here). So yea, essentially if we keep killing pollinators we will see further food shortages across our planet.

Pesticides are also causing issues due to the pesticide-laden food we are eating and serving to our children. Here's a quote about a recent study done by Mamavation, a consumer watchdog website that tested pesticides in Driscoll's strawberries: "Mamavation sent two boxes of Driscoll’s strawberries from a grocery store in Southern California to our EPA-certified laboratory, requesting testing for 500+ pesticides on Monday, May 4th, 2026. The results were a bit shocking. According to our laboratory, Driscoll’s conventional strawberries contained residues of 12 different pesticides at levels prohibited in the European Union, Taiwan, Chile, Korea & Russia. 8 of those pesticides are considered PFAS (forever chemicals), meaning they are extremely persistent and highly toxic. These pesticides are also known as forever pesticides” (reference here).

Since farming communities are laden with pesticides, studies are linking higher cancer rates to agricultural communities and states. "The Midwestern states of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and Missouri — leading corn-growing states — had the highest rates, while rates were also high in California and Florida, high fruit-growing states" (reference here). That same article says the following, "Most of the 500 counties with the highest pesticide use per square mile are located in the Midwest. Sixty percent of those counties also had cancer rates higher than the national average of 460 cases per 100,000 people, according to an analysis of data from both the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Cancer Institute".

There is the misconception that we need pesticides to mass grow food for our population; however, a 10 year study released in France says that growing crops without pesticides is technically and economically feasible under certain conditions. The study was coordinated by INRAE, the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (reference here). I think we need to start to question the narrative that we need pesticides to grow food. Also, if humanity starts saying "NO" to pesticides then it will push us to find new innovative ways to farm like vertical farming and clean indoor farming.

There is also major concern that pesticides are affecting our oceans and sea-life because of the runoff from land into our waterways. "Pesticides are capable of killing salmon and other aquatic life directly and within a short period of time. For example, in 1996 the herbicide acrolein was responsible for the death of approximately 92,000 steelhead, 114 juvenile coho salmon, 19 resident rainbow trout, and thousands of nongame fish in Bear Creek, a tributary of the Rogue River." (reference here)

Humans, why are we poisoning ourselves?! If pesticides are doing this much damage, why are humans still using them? Pesticide companies are known for being big donors to our government officials. "Sixteen Trump-appointed EPA officials were paid more than $2.8 million by chemical companies and trade groups before they joined the agency that oversees the industry, according to a CREW analysis of financial disclosures" (reference here).

What can we do about this? We can talk about it and become more vigilant about who we are voting for. Let's vote for candidates that talk about organic, pesticide-free, regenerative farming. We can also buy organic food which creates more of a demand in the supply chain for pesticide-free food. Buying organic is a message to the government officials and pesticide companies that we don't support pesticides. I realize organic is expensive so I do understand that not everyone is able to buy organic. This is unfortunate and I would like to see this change in humanity's future where all food is organic and if it's not produced in an organic regenerative way, than that company is highly taxed or fined. Companies that damage the environment should be taxed and fined instead of humans wanting to be healthy.

I'm normally focused on spirituality so why am I writing about pesticides? Taking care of our planet and humanity is part of spirituality. I want a better living situation for all humans and that includes a healthier planet and human population. The spiritual community calls humanity's evolution, "Ascension" and creating a better planet for all is known as the "New Earth". These are topics heavily discussed in the spiritual podcasts but the spiritual community hasn't detailed out how to get there. A big piece of the puzzle to the New Earth is clean energy and getting rid of all the poisons, PFAS chemicals, and pesticides.

It's important that we talk about these topics, even when they make us cringe and contract. I believe the majority of humans are good people and just aren't aware of these issues, just as I wasn't aware of them until I started researching. We can't create a better New Earth until we acknowledge the problems on our planet. When we turn a flashlight on these dark topics, we will start to see change.

I believe our future is bright on this planet. As more humans continue to wake up and question our reality, we will want something better. When we spiritually work on ourselves, we start to feel a oneness with each other, nature, and the planet. This is something that naturally happens as a race starts to evolve. I know, because it happened to me. As this Great Awakening is happening on Earth right now, let's start to think about what we want for a better New Earth.