News

Let me introduce you to MidwestGrowsGreen.org

MGG’s Leader, Ryan Anderson, introduces you to our new website and look.

I directed my last project, the Midwest Grows Green (MGG) Lawn & Land Forum workshop, as an employee of the Midwest Pesticide Action Center on October 29th, 2018.  I started the Lawn & Land Forum two and a half years ago to create a go-to hub for natural lawn care (NLC) information and resources.

Enter in 2019, the IPM Institute of North America, Inc. acquired MGG, hired me and set aside a domain to host a website specifically for MGG. Today, I’m excited to introduce our fresh website, MidwestGrowsGreen.org, provide an overview of the site’s features and discuss plans for 2019. 

The new website design and structure focuses on the needs of our most important supporter, you and our MGG pledge community.  Front and center, our home page features a scrolling menu of current MGG events and activities. Chicago Grows Green Week from June 1st to June 8th and Milwaukee Grows Green Weekend from May 2nd to May 5th take up the first two slides.  Even in a transitional year for MGG, 2018 saw great progress in sustainable landscaping and our Grows Green Weekends and Weeks will showcase your successes through demonstrations, workshops, webinars and more.

Below the scrolling menu, you will see a brief recap of MGG’s three programs of Pesticide-Free Parks, Point-of-Purchase and Community Engagement.  Just like before, each program has their own page and maps to show the progress in MGG pesticide-free parks, eco-labeling retailers and pledges.  Also similar to MPAC’s website, we have included links to our many MGG resources and monthly MGG blog posts at the very top of the website.

Most changes to MGG’s look can be found at the main menu below the resources and blog. That menu displays five options of “The Problem”, “What You Can Do”, “Lawn & Land Forum”, “Events” and “About Us”.

The Problem” option and its pages will provide an in-depth look at the environmental and health risks of synthetic lawn pesticides and fertilizers and will update information with the latest data and research.

The “What You Can Do” pages highlight the actionable aspects and opportunities of MGG. Under “In Your Community”, you can learn about any of our three MGG programs and how to bring them to your neighborhood. For “Take the Pledge”, commit to eliminating your synthetic lawn pesticide and fertilizer use and stay informed on the latest sustainable landscaping progress. Finally, act locally by applying natural lawn care (NLC) tips from our “In Your Home” page. 

You can think “Globally” by visiting the “Lawn & Land Forum” pages which house the latest NLC and IPM solutions. In addition to information on the next MGG Lawn & Land Forum session and publishing notes from past sessions, “The Forum” expects to release a page for “The Toolkit” in November 2019. The Toolkit shares IPM/NLC information from the perspective of the end user by incorporating case studies of sports turf managers across the Midwest who use best practices of aeration, composting, mowing high and more to limit or eliminate their synthetic pesticide use. 

The Toolkit, Chicago Grows Green Week and Milwaukee Grows Green Weekend are just a couple of the activities planned for 2019.  Our “Events” pages will let you know where MGG travels and catch any other NLC-related events from Greater Chicago to Grand Rapids, MI.

Finally, the “About Us” page provides information on our mission and contact information for me, randerson@ipminstitute.org, so we can collaborate to make our outdoor spaces safer for children, pets and pollinators.

I hope to assist your community’s pesticide reduction work in any capacity that I can and I encourage you to participate in our quarterly Advocacy Committee Calls to stay involved in the MGG movement.  If you wish to work with MGG this year, I ask that you consider donating to our work. Chicago Grows Green Week will, also, host a compost tea and native plant fundraiser on Saturday, June 8th at Dig Right In Landscaping’s offices in Westchester, IL. Any support will greatly help MGG fulfill its projects and mission in 2019. Thank you!