
Photo credit: John Moran
Fertilizer Free Campaign
Alachua County Environmental Protection Department
Florida's springs, rivers, lakes, and groundwater are impacted by excess nutrients, including nitrogen from residential fertilizer use, contributing to algal growth, degraded water quality, and ecological harm. While using the data specific “Join the 55%” social norming tagline was a risk, it was one we embraced in partnership with our client knowing the public pushback would demand fact-based details supporting a claim that most residents do not use fertilizer. Our hope was the “Join the 55%” tagline would eventually have to change – and it did. The original 55% grew to 68%, and 2026 survey data now show that 72% of residents report not using fertilizer at all. Changing one of our taglines every few years is a good problem to have. Each increase reflects measurable behavior change and further establishes fertilizer-free lawn care as the norm rather than the exception.







