Lessons from the LoraxThe golf industry would do well to pay attention to sage advice from Dr. Seuss.

by FRANK S. ROSSI, Ph.D.

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ILE gazing out his windowat the north coast of SanDiego, Theodore Seuss Geisel

noticed an endless landscape of "con-dominiums and look-alike houses." Inhis eyes, the ever-expanding metropolisexemplified the public's indifference tothe environment. After reading many"dull things on conservation, full ofstatistics and preachy," he decided tomake the subject more amusing byhaving it come to life in a child's story.This difficult task eventually led to Dr.Seuss's first serious case of writer'sblock.

To escape the concrete jungle ofsouthern California, Dr. Seuss took atrip to the Mount Kenya Safari Club inEast Mrica. While sitting by a pool, hesaw elephants walk across the moun-tain. The elephants "broke the logjam"and that afternoon 90% of The Lorax,a piece of environmental propaganda,was completed.

The story of the Lorax is a polemicabout pollution, impassioned andbristling with confrontation and name-calling. Its main character, a Lorax, isa protagonist who speaks for conser-vation. On the opposing side is thegreedy old Once-Ier who tells a youngboy how a town is ruined when themagnificent Truffula trees are cut downto knit Thneeds, "a fine something thatall people need."

The result of removing the Truffulatrees is "smogulous smoke" that causesa "cruffulous croak" and "gluppityglup" that chases the humming fish to"search for water that isn't so smeary."In the final scene, with the air andwater polluted, the animals evacuated,and the last tree cut down, the Once-ler leans from his mysterious Lurkimand drops the last Truffula seed to theboy, saying,

"Unless someone like youCares a whole awful lot,Nothing is going to get better.It's not."

The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss, would behis only book banned from schoolcurricula across the United States. Itwas his slowest-selling book for adecade, until the booming environ-

In the final scene of The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss, with the last tree cut down and pollutioneverywhere, the Once-Ier leans from his mysterious Lurkim and drops the last Truffulaseed to the boy, saying, "Unless someone like you

Cares a whole awful lot,Nothing is going to get better.It's not."

MAY IJUNE 2001 5

A golf course property must be sharedwith all of the local residents.

mental movement of the 1980s made ithis most popular. In fact, Seuss biog-raphers have stated it was his personalfavorite. The true question at hand is,what are the lessons that this storyholds for the relationship between golfand the environment?

The golf industry experienced asimilar "Lorax" event in 1988 whenthe United States General AccountingOffice published Are the Hazards ofLawn Care Pesticides Underestimated?Then in 1989, the Attorney General ofNew York State published Toxic Fair-ways: The Risk of Groundwater Con-tamination from Golf Courses. JayFeldman of the National CoalitionAgainst the Misuse of Pesticides(NCAMP), along with other activists,seized the moment to confront thegolf industry.

The initial response from the industrywas defensive. In 1992, at the GCSAAConference and Show there was apacked session of thousands of golfcourse superintendents who heardfrom Mr. Feldman and officials fromthe Environmental Protection Agency(EPA). In 1995, the USGA invitedMichael Fumento, author of ScienceUnder Siege, to speak. He reported theresults of a topical search he hadconducted on golf courses and cancer."Golf courses fight cancer, as pro-fessional tournaments raise funds,"Fumento proclaimed. The crowderupted and you could sense that thegolf course superintendents wantedthis crisis over. Still, information was

6 USGA GREEN SECfION RECORD

lacking regarding the fate of pesticidesand nutrients applied to turf.

In response to mounting public con-cerns, the USGA embarked on a multi-million-dollar research initiative tomore thoroughly understand the influ-ence of golf turf management on en-vironmental quality. The environmentunder investigation was air and waterquality. Concurrently, Ron Dodson,President of Audubon International,introduced the Cooperative SanctuaryProgram to the golf industry to assistgolf cours~ superintendents with envi-ronmental'management. Ron also en-couraged the USGA to establish Wild-life Links, a research funding programthat investigates the influence of golfturf management on wildlife.

In 1998, the USGA held a sympo-sium at a meeting of the AmericanChemical Society (ACS) to discuss adecade of environmental research. Asa member of the USGA's Environ-mental Research and Turfgrass Com-mittee at the time, I enjoyed hearing

from leading researchers in the turfindustry and reviewing their work in asymposium book published in 2000.The opening chapter, authored by JimSnow and Dr. Mike Kenna, is anexcellent overview of the research todate. In the concluding section, theystate, "University research shows thatmost pesticides used on golf courses,when selected and applied properly,have a negligible effect on the environ-ment."

Audubon International's cooperativesanctuary programs for new and exist-

ing golf courses have grown over thelast decade, but still only about 15% ofall courses in the U.S. participate.Furthermore, the number of coursesreceiving full certification for all sixenvironmental categories is less than3%. Many others have become certifiedin one or more categories, however. Thebottom line is that most golf courses areeither not involved or, if they pay theannual subscription fee of $150, havenot actively pursued full certification.The sad irony in all of this is that inmany states the Audubon Internationalprograms are actively embraced bygovernment agencies as a means ofensuring environmental quality whena new facility is proposed.

Many golf courses throughout thecountry continue to face public oppo-sition to the use of pesticides and fer-tilizers. Several communities in Cali-fornia, for example, have banned theuse of most pesticides, and in NewYork this same trend is actively beingpursued. The turfgrass industry has

responded by mounting significantlobbying efforts to combat the legisla-tive agenda of advocacy organizations.At the same time, unfortunately, theindustry faces new pest problems, suchas bentgrass deadspot and gray leafspot, that require substantial pesticideinput to maintain expected quality.

Millions of dollars have been in-vested in researching the environ-mental fate of applied chemicals. Thesestudies attempt to determine the rolethat specific management practicesmay play in minimizing off-site move-ment and often use EPA concentra-tions to evaluate success. In general,these levels are established from toxi-cological research that determinesconcentrations that might cause humanhealth concerns. But what if theselevels are harmful to other species vitalto aquatic ecosystems?

Environmental researchers fromCanada published an assessment ofthe influence of nitrogen pollution onamphibians in a 1999 issue of Environ-mental Health Perspectives. The paperis a review of available water qualityinformation for the Great Lakes regionof the United States and Canada. Of themore than 8,000 water quality samplescollected in areas surrounding theGreat Lakes, 20% of them were foundto have concentrations that cause sub-lethal effects in amphibians, such asphysical deformity.

The review did not point a fingerat the turfgrass industry, but rathershowed the influence of wastewatertreatment, livestock management, pre-cipitation, and fertilizer use on nitratepollution. Clearly, as a major user offertilizer for turfgrass management, the

golf industry should be aware of theinformation and adopt best manage-ment practices to minimize off-sitemovement. In addition, golf coursesuperintendents should take everyavailable opportunity to use turf as aneffective vegetative buffer or bio-filtration system to protect sensitiveaquatic habitats. Now is certainly thetime to think about this bigger picture.

Interestingly, the public does not cur-rently view environmental degradation

as a major issue. Gallup polls prior tothe 2000 election found that 29% ofAmericans felt that the environmentwas either not or only somewhat im-portant. Even though the environmentonly ranked eighth out of 14 in impor-tance, 15% of the poll respondents saidthat the environment would be one ofthe most important issues facing theU.S. in the next 25 years.

Mr. Snow and Dr. Kenna agree onthe importance of the environment and

Golfers play an important role indemanding environmental stewardship.Everyone needs to support those golfcourse superintendents who achieveenvironmental excellence.

The birth of a new generation is oneof the most promising signs of a healthyenvironment.

MAY IJUNE 2001 7

'~s an industry, golf cannot rest on its laurels; it mustbe vigilant in all its efforts to inform golfers about theultimate price of their demands."

state in the final chapter of the ACSsymposium book that "The USGA andthe game of golf need to keep askingquestions and looking for new ways tomaintain golf course grasses. Moreimportant, efforts should be increasedto educate the golfer about environ-mental issues." The importance of thesepoints cannot be overstated, yet I amregularly amazed at how many in theturf industry feel that the environ-mental crisis is over. I sense compla-cency among organizations and in-dustry leaders that professional image,labor issues, and expected turf qualityare greater challenges now that the re-sults of USGA-funded research studiesare known.

There is nothing more important tothe well-being of the game of golf andthe turf industry than environmentalquality. Yes, the data are encouraging inthat, as far as we can measure, currentmanagement practices appear to havelittle negative influence on the environ-ment.

At the same time, however, the golfindustry needs to scrutinize decisionsbeyond everyday course maintenance.Should fairways be established with

8 USGA GREEN SECTION RECORD

perennial ryegrass where gray leaf spotis going to be a problem? Are architec-tural features created on new courseswith the environment in mind or athirst for future television coverage?Why isn't every golf course actively par-ticipating in the Audubon CooperativeSanctuary Program?

If the goal is to reach the public witha positive environmental message, andwe know the influence of televisedevents, why don't we use the medium?Is it unreasonable to request thatcourses hosting either a major cham-pionship or a PGA Tour event demon-strate environmental excellence by en-rolling in a program such as AudubonInternational's Cooperative Sanctuaryor Signature Programs, the MichiganEnvironmental Stewardship Program,etc.? Televised events should highlightenvironmental stewardship as much asgreen speed.

Superintendents should be judgedby an enviro-meter as much as they areby the Stimpmeter.@ If golfers do notdemand environmental stewardship,will complacency grow until the nextcrisis? Everyone should support thosesuperintendents who achieve environ-

mental excellence at great risk to theirprofessional stability. I believe we canhave environmentally responsible golfand high-quality playing conditions, ifwe so choose.

Concern for environmental qualitywill steadily increase as the humanpopulation continues to grow world-wide. As an industry, golf cannot rest onits laurels; it must be vigilant in all itsefforts to inform golfers about theultimate price of their demands. Insome cases the exact price may not beknown, but shouldn't we err on the sideof caution? The amphibian study con-ducted in Canada is only one aspect ofwhat Rachel Carson refers to in herstatement in Silent Spring, "the fabric oflife, on one hand delicate and destruc-tible, on the other miraculously toughand resilient, and capable of strikingback in unexpected ways."

FRANK ROSSI, Ph.D., is an assistant pro-fessor of tur/grass science and a member ofthe Cornell University tur/grass team. Fromhis office in Ithaca, New York, he haswritten numerous articles and in each casechallenges his readers to actively participatein environmental stewardship.