Weed killer is commonly used in gardens everywhere--it is used to kill: ‘’weeds’’.
‘’Weeds’’ are just essentially wild plants and wildflowers that grow in places (usually gardens) that many people don’t like. However. There are many good reasons to keep your wildflowers and wild plants a.k.a - weeds, in your garden; rather than killing them (especially killing them through weed killer).
There are millions of gardens throughout the United Kingdom. Therefore, how we use our gardens, and what we do with our gardens, is really important - especially when we live in a time where insects and wild animals are hurling towards extinction. The United Kingdom is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. In other words: we are one of the top countries which has destroyed most of our natural world and wildlife. This means that our remaining wild ecosystems and even our gardens are more important now, than ever before.
You might think that your garden is just one garden--a little space where wild animals can’t thrive. But they can: wild animals can thrive and survive in your garden; and in every garden across the UK. However, wild animals can and will only survive in our gardens if we make our garden areas wildlife friendly and eco-friendly. One of the ways that you can make your garden eco-friendly and wildlife friendly is to avoid using things like weed killer in your garden.
Here are some good reasons why you shouldn’t use weed killer:
Reason One
You shouldn’t use weed killer because it is harmful to animals; including wild animals. Weed killers are made up of toxic chemicals. These toxic chemicals are harmful to animals like pets; and they are harmful to wild animals.
Weed killers can be particularly harmful to wild birds; as wild birds are undoubtedly the most common wild animal that you will see and have visit to your garden. This means, that wild birds are more at risk of breathing in these harmful chemicals and ingesting them, or even drinking them, as weed killers will and can get into water systems which is nearby - these water systems are where wild animals like birds get their water supply from, therefore, if there are harmful chemicals within the water wild animals will drink that water and it will poison and harm those animals.
Bird can be particularly susceptible to this because they are our most frequent garden visitor. Using wild killer doesn’t just result in adult wild birds being prone to ingesting these harmful chemicals, it also can result in their baby chicks ingesting any food which their parents take back for them from a garden which has used weed killer. Therefore, wild bird populations can be damaged.
It's not just birds that can be damaged by these chemicals, all other wild animals can - including out favorite spiky visitor: hedgehogs!
If you want to help hedgehogs in your garden, then one of the best ways that you can help wild animals like hedgehogs, is to avoid using things like weed killers and slug repellents - both of which are harmful to animals like hedgehogs. If you use these harmful chemicals in your garden, then it will diminish the insect population in your garden - which means that animals such as hedgehogs and wild birds will find it more difficult to find food and it will also result in insects in your garden having harmful chemicals like weed killer or slug repellent on them; these insects are ingested by hedgehogs, so it results in hedgehogs ingesting harmful chemicals and risks poisoning animals like wild birds and hedgehogs.
Reason three
Letting ‘’weeds’ thrive in your garden helps the insect population.
It is important for us to help the insect population, as they are declining sharply and suffering the same decline as all other wild animals. The insect population is declining so rapidly that scientists this year in February, published a report that stated that declining insect numbers threatened the collapse of nature. The study found that a third of insects were already endangered; it also found that the insect population was declining by 2.5% each year, and that 41% of all insects have already declined.
This isn’t just bad news for the insect population, it is bad news for humans and other wild animals too. If there are no insects, then there would be no other birds, mammals or other wild animals - all other animals depend on insects for their survival, either directly, or indirectly. Therefore, if we lose the insect population, that would result in the collapse of nature.
By using weed killers, you will contribute to the insect population declining, at a time when it is crucial that we preserve insects. By using weed killers, you will harm insects in your garden, that won’t only result in a decline in insects - it will also result in a decline of animals like birds, hedgehogs and amphibians, whose natural food source is insects. You can help make your garden more insect-friendly by preventing using things like weed killers, or other harmful chemicals in the garden.
Reason four
Another reason why you shouldn’t use weed killer, is because it is harmful to the environment. If you use harmful chemicals in your garden--like weed killers--then you will be polluting the environment with toxic chemicals which are bad for wild animals and bad for the air that we breath.
We have to remember that we, and other animals, are breathing in the air that we pollute - we are breathing in the air that we pollute with chemicals like weed killers. Therefore, for your own health, the health of other people and the health of wild animals, you should avoid using things like weed killers in your garden.
Reason Five
Another reason why you shouldn’t use weed killer is because it is bad for our health: it is bad for the health of humans. There are several ways that weed killers are harmful to our health besides breathing in toxic chemicals; one recent study showed that weed killers increase the chance of cancer in humans by 41%. Basically, using weed killers greatly increases the risk of us getting deadly diseases like cancer. They are exceptionally harmful to our health, and the health of wild animals and the environment.
There are other ways that weed killers can be harmful to us. Weed killer can end up in water systems - these are the same water systems that we, and other animals, are drinking. Therefore, we are not just breathing in these harmful chemicals, there is a risk that we will also be consuming them.
Reason Six
Another reason that you shouldn’t use weed killers, is because they stop you from taking part in gardening. Gardening is very beneficial to our health - including our mental health; gardening is good for our mental health. Gardening has been shown to help ease mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
One of the reasons that gardening is so good for our mental health, is because it helps us to connect with nature easily, and in a relatively cost-effective way.
However, if we kill ‘’weeds’’ through spraying weed killer on them, then we deny ourselves the benefits of gardening, and the benefits on our mental health that we gain from gardening. Therefore, if you have to take out ‘’weeds’’ then do it in a way that is eco-friendly and free from harmful chemicals, not only will help the environment and nearby wild animals, it will also help you to and improve your health. Gardening the old fashioned way will result in you gaining many benefits from it, such as: mental health benefits, physical health benefits (as you will be exercising), it helps you get in touch with nature, and it’s also shown to make you happier.
Conclusion
There are several reasons why you shouldn’t use weed killer in your garden.
The reasons that you shouldn’t use weed killer in your garden is because:
It is bad for local wildlife
It is bad for pets
It is bad for the insect population
It is bad for the environment
It is bad for our own health
And, it takes away from us the benefits of gardening
If we become more eco-friendly in the garden, and more wildlife friendly in the garden - by ditching things such as using weed killers in the gardens, then we will create a planet which is better for wildlife, the environment and ourselves.
Sources:
https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/beginners/birding-faq/lawn-chemicals-really-harmful-birds/
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/mammals/how-you-can-help-hedgehogs/
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/mammals/how-you-can-help-hedgehogs/
https://www.bhg.com/gardening/pests/insects-diseases-weeds/pet-friendly-weed-killer-281474979765644/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/10/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/14/health/us-glyphosate-cancer-study-scli-intl/index.html