Contact your councillors about pesticides

If you have signed our pledge to go pesticide-free in your own garden, you can now take the next step and contact your councillors! Councillors don't hear from their constituents as often as MPs do, so an email to them can make a real difference. Many councillors know very little about pesticides and the harm that is being done in our villages, towns and cities by these chemicals. If they start to hear from the people they represent about this issue, we will be able to change that. 

If you live in Leicester (within the city boundary), you can use this online action to email your councillors and ask them if they will call for an end to the spraying. If you live anywhere else, go to the 'Write to Them' website and enter your postcode to find your councillors and send them an email. We've provided a template email below, but please do add a couple of sentences (or more) with your own thoughts, to make it more personal. Don't forget to fill in the local details.

And if you hear back from your councillors, we'd love to know! Send us an email at leicesterfoe [at] gmail.com. We'd like to keep track of who is supportive and might help our campaign. 

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Dear Councillor [NAME],

I recently signed a pledge to go pesticide-free in my own garden, because pesticides are harmful to wildlife, pets and human health.

I am concerned that glyphosate is still being used in parks and on roadside verges locally.

The Global Glyphosate Study concluded that this weedkiller causes multiple types of cancer, even at exposure levels deemed to be ‘safe’ by governments. Eleven cancers are increasing among young people and one of the possible causes being considered is exposure to chemical herbicides (see this BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crepdjdj0z4o )

The impact on our wildlife is also worrying, with mammal, bird and insect populations having been shown to suffer in areas when glyphosate is used. The soil itself is affected due to the loss of beneficial organisms, putting wildflowers doubly at risk when combined with the loss of pollinators.

We know how important bees are for ecosystems and for pollinating our own crops but they’re still facing unnecessary pressure in our city due to the continued use of glyphosate.

Many UK councils, including Lambeth, Glastonbury and Lewes, have stopped using any pesticides in public spaces and it is illegal to use them in public spaces in France. [COUNCIL NAME] is lagging behind other local authorities in protecting our environment.

Will you join me in calling for an end to the spraying in [LOCAL AREA]? Could you please raise this at a Council meeting and ask the Council to stop using this dangerous chemical in public spaces?

Yours faithfully,
[YOUR NAME]