“It makes me so angry”

Having neighbors can be a wonderful way to build community. You can work together to create healthier streets or enjoy each other's gardens. However, we're not always so lucky with environmentally conscious neighbors. One homeowner's garden time was disrupted when someone next door sprayed a cloud of pesticides.

One mother described her neighbor's carelessness on Reddit, complaining that she had to run into the house when she noticed clouds of pesticide blowing over the fence.

“It's a beautiful, blustery spring day and I'm outside in our backyard… when I hear a leaf blower and look up to see our new neighbors behind the house (we share a fence) have a lawn care guy blowing leaves with one hand WHILE SPRAYING a cloud of pesticide/weed killer all over their yard (and into ours) with the other,” the OP wrote.

“Do people still care THAT much about having a perfectly manicured green lawn? I'm sad too because I put so much effort into growing flowers and plants for the bees and butterflies and making our garden a paradise for all the little birds and animals in our area.”

The United States uses enormous amounts of pesticides. According to the EPA, “total pesticide use in the United States in both 2011 and 2012 was over 1.1 billion pounds annually.” Unfortunately, this has resulted in the majority of Americans being exposed to these chemicals on a regular basis. CBS News reported that “a government study [found] Glyphosate in more than 80% of urine samples from children and adults in the United States.”

Roundup has been proven to be toxic to human and ecological health. The Ecology Center wrote: “Glyphosate is acutely toxic to fish and birds and can kill beneficial insects and soil organisms that maintain ecological balance.”

Bayer, the company that sells Roundup-brand glyphosate, has faced more than 100,000 lawsuits over its link to cancer, AP News reported. As the OP showed, sprayed herbicides are difficult to control, but you can avoid these harmful chemicals with natural alternatives to reduce weed growth.

Other Reddit users were rightly upset with the OP, with one writing, “This is making me so angry. Thankfully none of the three properties next to mine seem to be spraying, but of course you can't control it and you never know who's moving in.”

Someone added: “If something dies you can contact the lawn care company, as far as I know they are required to prevent drift.”

Hopefully the OP doesn't lose any plants due to careless use of chemicals.

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