zanna Hatfield

Ludi - I agree that earth's present population is not sustainable.  Further I believe the world will continue to see increases in conflict until the population stress becomes understood and addressed.  But getting public opinion to change on this issue  - - well that is quite an undertaking.  All I can do is try to get a few more people, here and there, to think about the actual future outcome of choosing to have more children now.  Many people never think that ONE more child NOW could represent an eightfold increase  for the population of their great grandchildren's world. 

As ways of reducing the stress on our planet, I don't consider murder/suicide as being in the same league as responsible propagation.  Those topics, detestable to most, detract from the very legitimate question of whether it is ecologically responsible to have multiple offspring.  Having one child who then has one child who then has one child etc. .  replaces your own footprint - more or less.  Having two children who then each have two children who have two children etc exponential increases your footprint - by the third generation there are 8 individuals for your one footprint.  Huge ecological difference from just one additional child.

If someone were to consider that their eight great grandchildren all together had to split  the same sized "pie" as that person survives on now, I'm sure he or she would not want that.

Earth is finite.  As the population continues to expand, the pieces of pie get smaller and conflict increases.

I don't have the facts and numbers and I realize it can be a touchy subject, but a person who choses to have one or even no children, limits his or her ecological footprint in a rather significant way - it is not my scale - but in my opinion this should be a significant factor, if not the most significant factor, in an eco scale.

Moved into a home this January where the lawn has been seriously neglected for at least 5 years.  Weeds have been allowed to grow as tall as 4-6 feet in the back yard over the last few years (neighbors tell me).  I have it all, but it is the quackgrass (not crabgrass) that has me really down.

I have been planning all summer to overseed this fall.  I already have the seed and did one area on labor day weekend.  I was working on a second area today and there is so much quackgrass (not crabgrass, but quackgrass).  I have spent all summer chasing the other weeds and did not see this invasion until about a week ago and it seems to have gotten much worse in just one week.  I have been mowing high, watering deep, using alfalfa pellets and cracked corn. . . There has been a huge change in the worm population over the summer. . . so some things are improving.  BUT, if I overseed now, I think I am just going to end up with a quackgrass lawn anyway. 

So can anyone advise how to defeat quackgrass?  What cultural practices will help the bluegrass-fescue and put the quackgrass at a disadvantage?