Keep Saving the Bees!

Unfortunately, this is a very serious issue that is being casually overlooked or grossly misunderstood by the vast majority of people!

Here is a good article that helps to explain why we need to save the bees: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2008/nov/21/wildlife-endangeredspecies and an older post from this blog: http://365days2changetheworld.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/save-bees.html

To buy gorgeous beauty products that support saving the bees, go to NYR Organics' Bee Lovely range, mentioned here in the 10 best pollen-inspired beauty products.

Sign a petition to help save the bees- read about who is involved and why in this email that I received from SumofUs.org:

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Ronell,

Bees are dying off around the world in record numbers -- but big retailers are still selling the poison that is killing them.

Last season, 37 million bees (!) died on a Canadian farm. Scientists now know why – study after study shows that deadly pesticides called "neonics", manufactured by Bayer, are killing them. 

Giant retail stores around the world like Home Depot, Bunnings, and Lowe's are still selling the deadly pesticides, but pressure is mounting. If one of the stores commits to stop carrying the pesticides, it could start a snowball effect that sees other stores drop the bee-killing chemicals too.

In just two weeks, SumOfUs' activist beekeepers will travel to deliver our petition on the corporations' home turf. Can you add your name now, so the retailers see the tide of public opinion and commit to stop selling bee-killing pesticides?

Tell giant retail stores to stop selling bee-killing pesticides.

Earlier this year, SumOfUs supporters called on these retail giants to stop selling neonics, with thousands flooding their phone lines and speaking out in store. Now, we've learnt that North American based Home Depot could be on the cusp of doing the right thing and taking the bee-killing chemicals off its shelves. We need to send a message to tip Home Depot over the edge, and pressure other stores to act as well.

The dangerous chemical Bayer makes is a neonicotinoid, or neonic. Neonics are soaked into seeds, spreading through the plant and killing insects stopping by for a snack -- and sold in garden stores around the world, too. These pesticides can easily be replaced by other chemicals which don’t have such a devastating effect on the food chain. But companies like Bayer and Syngenta make a fortune from selling neonics -- so they’ll do everything they can to protect their profits. 

History shows that consumer pressure on retailers works. Europe's partial ban on neonics was caused by a huge movement that pushed some of the biggest retailers in the EU to voluntarily remove neonics from their shelves. But there is not a moment to lose. Please take action now to keep the pressure on the big retail giants so we can protect our bees and our planet's future

Call on retail giants to get rid of the bee-killing neonics.

SumOfUs has been right at the front of the global campaign to save our bees. We came together to fight Bayer at a huge independent garden store show in Chicago, where the German chemical maker was out in force. We're taking legal action in Europe to defend the EU's ban against Bayer, and just last week spoke out at Bayer's annual shareholder meeting in Germany. But to win this fight, we need to push the retailers to drop these bee-killing pesticides now.

Thank you for being one of us,

Taren, Paul, Angus and the team at SumOfUs.org

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More information:

CNBC: Bee activists swarm Home Depot and Lowe's, 14 February 2014

Mother Jones: 3 New Studies Link Bee Decline to Bayer Pesticide, 29 March, 2013

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Blessings!

Ronell x

{photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/NYRORonell}

Save the Bees!

Bayer has just sued the European Commission to overturn a ban on the pesticides that are killing millions of bees around the world. A huge public push won this landmark ban only months ago -- and we can't sit back and let Big Pesticide overturn it while the bees vanish.

Bayer and Syngenta, two of the world's largest chemical corporations, claim that the ban is "unjustified" and "disproportionate." But clear scientific evidence shows their products are behind the massive bee die-off that puts our entire food chain in peril. 

Just last month, 37 million bees were discovered dead on a single Canadian farm. And unless we act now, the bees will keep dying. We have to show Bayer now that we won't tolerate it putting its profits ahead of our planet's health. If this giant corporation manages to bully Europe into submission, it would spell disaster for the bees.

Sign the petition to tell Bayer and Syngenta to drop their bee-killing lawsuits now. 

The dangerous chemical Bayer makes is a neonicotinoid, or neonic. Neonics are soaked into seeds, spreading through the plant and killing insects stopping by for a snack. These pesticides can easily be replaced by other chemicals which don’t have such a devastating effect on the food chain. But companies like Bayer and Syngenta make a fortune from selling neonics -- so they’ll do everything they can to protect their profits. 

The EU banned these bee-killers this past May, after a massive public campaign and a clear scientific finding from the European Food Safety Authority that neonics pose huge risks to bee populations. Bayer fought against the ban every step of the way, using tactics taken from Big Tobacco -- pouring millions into lobbying and fake science to stop decision-makers from taking action. 

Now, we have to defend this landmark ban for the bees, and our food supply. Sign the petition now to tell Bayer and Syngenta to drop their aggressive lawsuits!

We have to stand up for the European ban now, from Europe and from around the world. The current ban only lasts for two years before it's up for review, and Bayer is now determined to stop it before it even comes into force in December 2013. If it is allowed to intimidate the European authorities with impunity, then the pressure to overturn the ban will be huge. This will be a massive victory for the poison industry, and a devastating loss for the bees, and all of us. It will make every environmental regulation more difficult, because companies that can't win on the facts can use their enormous profits to fund expensive, baseless lawsuits.

Bayer is an enormous company with a ton of public-facing brands. Neonics are a big part of its bottom line, but it can't afford poor publicity on a global scale. And if word gets out that Bayer is wrecking our ecosystem and threatening a creature responsible for pollinating a third of all our crops, the company will have to back down.

SumOfUs staff and members have literally just gotten of the plane from a convention in Chicago where we took the fight for a ban in the US right to the industry itself -- so we know how important it is to hold the line. 

Sign the petition to tell Bayer and Syngenta to drop their bee-killing lawsuits now. Let's build on this landmark victory and take the bee-killing pesticide ban global.

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More information:

EU insecticide ban triggers legal action, Nature News, 28 August, 2013