Brenda, try not to despair. I don't venture into too many other forums, to be perfectly honest. But isn't there usually one about "clean living" or "natural alternatives" and things like that? Those people are usually pretty knowledgeable about how to get rid of pests without carpet bombing your yard.
And sometimes you just have to throw a little education out there and hope it resonates with some people. I volunteer at the butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa. From time to time, I get people asking me what are the caterpillars on their parsley, dill, etc. I tell them that they are Eastern Black Swallowtails, and if it's the right time of year, I'll point one out in the flight cage. I've had several people exclaim, "Oh no! I'll have to stop killing them!" So you can make a difference. My dad is a woodturner and is teaching a friend of his how to turn. His friend, Matt, used to be a five-star chef (he has a lot of health problems now and doesn't work). Matt still cooks for his family though and grows a lot of his own food. Well, he sees me in the yard all the time chasing butterflies and collecting caterpillars. So yesterday he asks what the striped caterpillars on his dill and fennel were. I told him and he remarked how his wife and him had left them alone this year because they were curious. I always tell people to just have a couple more plants than they think they will use and transfer the caterpillars over to one plant. Matt said that's what he'll do.
I think a lot of it is just ignorance. I was visiting my grandma in WV a few years ago when I noticed her neighbor had hundreds of caterpillars on this one tree. Dad told me it was a Catalpa tree and from the looks of the caterpillar, I knew it had to be some kind of Sphinx moth. Well, I looked it up and it was a Catalpa Sphinx Moth caterpillar. I always bring critter keeper cages with me on vacation so I grabbed one and put it in with some leaves. Grandma asked me what I wanted to do "with that old Catalpa worm". First, I told her it wasn't a worm, it was a caterpillar, and that it was going to turn into a moth and I wanted to see what it would look like. I have a book on WV butterflies and moths and I had to get it out and show her the picture. She has lived there her whole life and literally had no idea.
Sometimes your advice will fall on deaf ears, but you never know whose mind you're going to change. I think more and more people are starting to wake up to the fact that spraying pesticides all over everything may not be the best idea. Also, supporting local businesses is good for the natural environment and the fiscal environment of your community. (My degree is in Economics so forgive me going a little off topic.) Money spent at local businesses circulates three times more in your community than money spent at chain stores. And like several of us have said, you get that personal touch and people who understand their customers (not to mention their own products). I have one nursery that knows I like to run around and take pictures of all the butterflies before I start shopping. And that I love getting "bonus caterpillars" on my plants! Voting in elections is important, but I believe we make even more of an impact when we "vote" with our dollars. So use those dollars to support local business, native plants, non-invasive plants, pesticide-free plants, non-GMO plants, or whatever is important to you.
