Ethics, vegans and lawns

The first rule for every profession should be: “Do no harm”. The goal of a sustainable corporation pre-supposes that the corporation is doing no harm.  This was driven home when I tried to navigate the mundane concern of a homeowner with a dying lawn. A lawn being killed by a “foreign” species, the japanese beetle. As a fairly new vegan, I have not had to deal with an invasion of pests, and began researching the possibilities. I found that there are a number of issues, a bit of a cascade of causes and effects. 

The store bought solution, a nasty chemical pesticide, was the obvious and $7 dollar choice. But who eats japanese beetles? Well, birds do, and my $7 dollar solution would kill the birds at no extra cost! I knew this from reading the "in case of inhalation" warnings. Since all animals need oxygen, I knew that the safety claims were ridiculous. 

What a bargain. It seems that when theses pests invade our lawns, unnatural monocultures, we see the brown spots and increase the water. This actually hurts the lawn, and strengthens the beetles and weeds. Because of the mosquito abatement I had reduced the fountains and water features, attracting even less birds. My neighbors had probably sprayed the $7 dollar solution, driving surviving beetles to my lawn and making it worse.  The beefed up water features, taller grass, and less water are doing the job of a healthier lawn attracting more birds.

I will soon be planting seeds for other grasses, naturally reducing weeds, and have already reduced water use by 57%. I will also be adding chamomile and yarrow for a greener, pest resistant environment. I think my dog might even smell better by the end of the day!

Wow! My head was spinning with all these ethical dilemmas. It is no wonder that business schools don't actually teach ethics, the teach business ethics. Definitely two different things. . It made it easy for me to answer the question, “Can a person who is a vegan for ethical reasons (the treatment of other animals) shoot rats with a B-B gun?” easy to answer. NO!