Beyond Pesticides presented their highest honor, the Dragonfly Award, to Ogunquit

“In Honor and Appreciation of the Town of Ogunquit, Maine,” the plaque reads, “For eliminating toxic pesticide use on public and private lawns to protect the health of people and the ecosystem.”
 
Beyond Pesticides is a national organization based in Washington, DC, that seeks to protect healthy air, water, land and food for current and future generations.

EPA New England Merit Award

The Ogunquit Conservation Commission was honored with the EPA’s New England Merit Award for Environmental Achievement, for our ordinance banning chemical pesticides, as well as winning three grants that help ensure clean water, and the many other conservation activities the Commission has achieved through the years. Senator Susan Collins sent congratulations.

In The News

It is not a stretch to say that the American organic movement has its roots in Maine. Rachel Carson was a well-established summer resident of the Boothbay Harbor region when her book, Silent Spring, first warned the nation about the dangers of overusing pesticides in 1962. And the rich food scene Mainers enjoy today largely owes its existence to the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, which began advocating for pesticide-free, locally grown foods way back in 1971, when such ideas were considered eccentric, even subversive.

No doubt some property rights advocates and the lawn chemical industry will apply the “subversive” label to Ogunquit’s precedent-setting lawn pesticides ban, passed in November. But it is precisely because the ordinance aims to protect all residents from toxic chemicals that the editors of Down East are proud to award the 33rd Down EastEnvironmental Award to the town of Ogunquit.

Ogunquit has inspired Down East to stop using chemical pesticides and fertilizers at our offices in Rockport. We will publish reports on our progress as we transition to organic turf management.

Click Here to read the full article in Downeast Magazine by Virginia M. Wright

Photo credit: JR P | Flickr. This image is available under a Creative Commons license and was modified with the addition of our Environmental Award insignia.