EDITORIAL: Be Positive about Your Industry

The 2008 national elections are still 19 months away, yet everywhere we turn – radio, TV, newspaper – the elections are being covered as if we’re voting tomorrow.
 
Yes, the days, weeks and months go by quicker than we’d like and we’ll soon be voting for the next U.S. president, along with other congressional representatives. Don’t worry, this is not a political column. I’m not going to advocate for any particular party or candidate.

Cindy Code

What I’m suggesting – if you’re searching for ideas (as is often the case in a can’t win candidate choice) – is that you consider our industry, the environment and the benefits our products and services mean to consumers, property managers and landscapes nationwide.
 
The benefits of our industry – including the products we use daily and often take for granted – are in jeopardy depending on who is voted into office. You think the last eight years were challenging? The next four plus years can make the last two terms look painless.
 
Most media coverage of product use in our industry has been focused at the national level; yet, it’s local and state issues that each and every one of us needs to focus on. We have a number of well-qualified industry representatives at the national level who are scrutinizing bills and issues that might negatively influence our right to do business.
 
However, it’s not so clear-cut at the state and local level. The number and complexity of issues is magnified the further away from Washington they get quite simply because the number of municipalities across the nation create numerous opportunities to slip in superfluous legislation. The odds-on-bet is that in today’s tremendously busy society, no one will notice harmful edicts until it’s too late.
 
In case you don’t think this column is for you, think again. Each and every one of us needs to be concerned about what may happen in the next two to six years. But why wait? Let’s unite, form a grass-roots team to work collaboratively to combat any damaging legislation designed to mitigate our business privileges.
 
Whether the issues relate to pesticides, water usage, plant installations, emissions issues and so on, each and every one of us can and need to make a difference.

How can you get involved? Be aware, be prepared to act, make it personal, be professional and tell your story. This is the message that Stacey Pine, grassroots manager for the Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment, promotes at national and regional meetings. Her message recommends that we:

• Follow stories in the local paper or on radio about policy proposals or activist activity related to pesticide and fertilizer use. Know what’s going on in the communities where you live and work. Local politics move quickly so it’s important to stay up to date.
• Remember to vote and to show up for local government meetings. Your personal involvement is essential to the political process, especially at the grassroots level where you have the most power to impact politics.
• Engage competitors, family and friends to help challenge false or misleading claims about products made in public forums or in the media.
• Become known to community leaders and policy makers as a business operator and citizen. It’s not so easy to policy makers to needlessly ban products when they know and trust the people using and depending on them.
• And, perhaps most importantly, commit to keeping current in your profession, especially about innovations in the tools and practices you use.

Let us know what concerns are cropping up in the cities in which you conduct business. In many cases, we represent many spectrums of the landscape industry, but when it comes down to our right to conduct business, we’re all on the same team.