Boycott Scotts!!!
Occupy Scotts!!!
Since I first wrote about the fact that the National Wildlife Federation had made an apparent deal with the devil and partnered with Scotts Miracle Gro, the internet has been abuzz with outrage that NWF had sold out.
I can totally understand why people are so upset. I was deeply saddened by this news myself. But the outrage has continued to grow as garden writers, environmentalists, and other advocates have taken up the call against the National Wildlife Federation.
The NWF facebook page (you must click “Everyone” on the right hand side under the five photos across the top of the page) has been indundated as thousands of people have expressed their outrage, concern, anger, sadness, and sense of betrayal.
One of NWF’s iconic symbols, Ranger Rick, has become the target of scorn. To see this read WWRRD? (What Would Ranger Rick Do?), and take a look at this photo posted on the NWF facebook page:
The anger and sense of betrayal are real, and it is a good thing to hold accountable those organizations who make choices that seems to negate their own mission statement.
But there is another side to this, and one where all of this emotional energy would maybe be better directed.
In a recent interview with NWF spokesman David Mizejewski, I was trying to express to him that all of his prepared statements about their good intentions were getting lost because the headline is the actual problem, and people can’t get past what seems unbelievable:
The National Wildlife Federation Teams Up With Scotts Miracle Gro
This is a very odd pairing. It would be like saying “The Nature Conservancy teams up with Monsanto” The two things do not belong in the same sentence.
Boycott Scotts!!!
What I said to David Mizejewski was “As long as Scotts is selling Roundup and Miracle Gro, this partnership will never look like a good thing, no matter how you try to spin it.”
Roundup and Miracle Gro are the problems. Scotts is the problem. And Scotts sells a whole lot more nasty chemicals that do great harm to our waterways, our drinking water, our native beneficial insects, and more.
So why aren’t we angry at Scotts? Why isn’t their facebook page filled with the same outrage as is being posted on NWF’s facebook page?
Do we hold our environmental organizations feet to the fire yet ignore the corporations who are poisoning our planet?
I say no!
Let’s Occupy Scotts. Let’s take over the Scotts Facebook page and tell them exactly how we feel about their chemicals (you must click “Everyone” on the right hand side under the five photos across the top of the page).
- Lets fill up their email box
- Let’s call them
- Even snail mail them
Please use all the ways of contacting them they have made available to us
But let’s not stop there. Seriously do we think we can get Scotts to stop the sale of Roundup with a few emails or facebook posts? Probably not.
Yes, we did get the National Wildlife Federations attention by doing this, but the only way to really get the attention of a giant corporation is to impact their bottom line.
Boycott Scotts products. And this includes Scotts Bird Seed, which the National Wildlife Federation would like to make the showcase of their new Save the Songbirds Campaign.
But our own little private boycott isn’t going to do much at all. I mean how much Roundup or Miracle Gro do you buy? For me, none.
So we have to take this further than that. We need to encourage our friends and families to choose our health and the health of the planet every time they buy something. We need to vote with our dollars.
Next time you’re in your local nursery or garden center, please tell the owner that you won’t continue shopping there as long as they are carrying these products.
Call Home Depot (1-800-466-3337) and tell them you will no longer purchase anything from them as long as Scotts products are the only choice for potting soil.
We need to take all of this energy that we’ve generated in the last few days and put it into effort that will actually make a difference for the environment and the health of our planet.
Let’s get to work!
Boycott Scotts!!!
But start by going to their Facebook page and telling them how you feel 
© 2012, Carole Sevilla Brown. All rights reserved. This article is the property of EcosystemGardening.com If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Carole Sevilla Brown
Thank you for your articles. I finally bucked up the will power to click the necessary “Like” button on the Scotts Facebook page and was delighted to find two things: 1) interesting (albeit not at all secret) articles about Scott’s loss in revenue last year and their plans to deal that little problem this year, and 2) when you click on the “Friendly Activity” page, thanks to how FB works, all of our posts that include the name “Scotts” are also landing there. I wouldn’t exactly call those “Friendly Activity,” but something much closer to “occupying.”
Well said! This is the logical next step.
I work at an organic garden center (organic way back since the owner started-29 years ago) and have never sold Scotts products, or any chemical or synthetic product for that matter. I cannot stand to go into other garden centers and smell those products. They permeate the air in the whole place. I chose where I wanted to work based on their principles and the teaching of organic practices. When I go to Home Depot to look at what their garden areas look like, the sight of all those pesticides scare me to death and I am stunned by how many people are looking at them and trying to choose the right one for their problem. They page through the “Scotts Answer Book” to chose their poison! I have to bite my tongue and leave, totally sad that I cannot do anything at the time. I am so proud to say, people are listening and learning and seeking us out now because we do not sell those products. If you can find an organic garden center or local native plant nursery, please support it and spread the word to do so. You have no idea how hard it is as a small business to compete with the big box stores! Keep up the good work-blogging and spreading the word about Scotts and other chemicals. I can tell you, the public IS starting to listen!
Here’s my deal, I didn’t have much cash when I started my garden so I begged & borrowed everything. But I never used Chems because they cost $$$ & smelled bad plus I couldn’t walk around barefoot after spraying.
Would you believe my garden is free? Totally free?
What I don’t spend I make up for in sweat equity.
It’s hard, hot & sexy -just like me
I don’t use Scott’s chems, and with constant complaining, bitching, harping, can’t get even one garden to stop using that junk. Seems like they’d rather deny using the stuff than actually stop.
When the Chem companies lie to our face about how “safe” their wonderful products are, they aren’t doing anything unexpected. I don’t purchase enough at the big box stores to make a credible threat…
Your ideas seem like a jumping off place for continued brainstorming on other options. I stopped supporting NWF a number of years ago, so… I can’t even make a noise about that… Gotta admit that it (Scotts & NWF) seems like an unlikely pairing…
I’ve been telling people for years that feeding birds in their bird feeders does more harm than good, that if they want to help the birds, they need to stop tidying their gardens… the Scotts bird food, and the save the songbirds campaign… appears like another good reason for not putting out bird food, besides the health concerns…
I agree, absolutely, that anger should be directed at Scotts. I suspect a lot of people upset by this deal are already boycotting Scotts, and we are not the audience Scotts is targeting. They know that environmentally informed people are against them, and they don’t care – it’s the people who care about the environment but are just under-informed that they are going for. That is what is so upsetting to me about this – NWF should be reaching out to those people with messages against lawn and yard chemicals, but that message has been hijacked to say that Scotts helps songbirds, not Scotts kills songbirds. Spreading the word about healthy and safe gardening is essential – now that message is up against both Scotts and NWF, instead of being helped by NWF.