Will you do this to protect bees from colony collapse?
You can’t have spring without buzzing bees. Their hum is harmony for singing birds, sniffing dogs, chirping crickets or cicadas. All of these things make up the sounds of spring — but bee-killing pesticides might change our familiar spring sounds forever.
Bees are in trouble.
Beekeepers are reporting that they’ve lost up to 90 percent of their hives, and more than half of all the native bees we have data for are in decline.1,2 From global climate change to intensive farming practices to habitat loss — there are many factors contributing to bee colony collapse.
Scientists have also pointed to the increased use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which are highly toxic to bees, as a major contributing factor to bee die-offs.3 These pesticides affect the bees’ nervous systems and make them slow to reproduce and have a hard time navigating back to their hives.
But you can make a difference in your own garden.
To protect our pollinators, we need to do our part. One place we can start? Our own action. Will you commit to keeping your garden pollinator friendly by not using bee-killing neonicotinoid-treated seeds or spraying neonicotinoid pesticides?
A prettier rose garden cannot justify the use of chemicals that science links to the die-off of bees. Commit to having a pollinator-friendly garden today.
1. Steve McDaniel, “The bees are dying,” The Baltimore Sun, February 7, 2019.
2. Kelsey Kopec, “Landmark Report: Hundreds of Native Bee Species Sliding Toward Extinction,” Center for Biological Diversity, March 1, 2017.
3. Jennifer Hopwood, Aimee Code, Mace Vaughan, David Biddinger, Matthew Shepherd, Scott Hoffman Black, Eric Lee-Mäder and Celeste Mazzacano, “How Neonicotinoids Can Kill Bees: The Science Behind The Role These Insecticides Play in Harming Bees,” Xerces Society For Invertebrate Conservation, 2016.