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}

Petition to Stop Injustice in Brazil

I received this email tonight from SumOfUs about a major injustice affecting poor farmers and giving an opportunity to sign a petition to stop it from happening!

Please read below and sign the petition if you are so led.

Blessings!

Ronell

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Ronell,

Under pressure from big commercial farms, the Brazilian parliament is about to hold a vote that will allow companies like Monsanto, Bayer, and others to start selling so-called ‘suicide seeds’ to farmers. The genetically modified seeds can only be used once, forcing small farmers into buying seeds from Monsanto or others over and over again -- literally forever.

The use of these seeds is essentially prohibited under a UN treaty on biodiversity which over 193 countries, including Brazil, have signed. But if Brazil overturns its own ban then this will have huge consequences. Poor, small farmers could be locked into a cycle of endless debt and dependency -- and the rest of the world could be handing control of the global food supply to a handful of companies. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

The parliamentary proposal has already been approved by some key committees and is now hurtling its way to a full parliament vote, which could happen in just a few weeks time -- meaning we don’t have long to stop this proposal.

Sign this petition to Brazilian lawmakers urging them to reject any attempt to overturn the ban on terminator seeds.

If the ban is scrapped, huge commercial farms will be allowed to use super fast-growing GMO crops, damaging neighbouring farms through cross-fertilisation. Small farmers will have to use the same terminator seeds just to compete -- tying them into buying seeds from the likes of Monsanto forever.

If Brazil allows these dangerous seeds to be used, it will spark a global domino effect, as country after country race to change laws in order to stay competitive. Brazil’s decision could set the stage for the global ban on terminator seeds to be overturned when the UN treaty is renewed this year. It’s absolutely vital that we stop this move in its tracks.

We’ve come together in the past to take on huge agribusinesses like Monsanto before. We’re fighting Bayer and Syngenta in their attempts to overturn Europe’s ban on bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides. We’ve taken on the might of Monsanto when we campaigned to stop it receiving the World Food Prize. Now we need to demand that Brazilian lawmakers reject attempts by giant corporate landowners and agribusinesses to allow the use of these dangerous suicide seeds.

Tell Brazilian lawmakers that the world is depending on them to keep the ban on 'terminator seeds'.

Thanks for all you do,
Martin, Paul, Claiborne and the rest of us


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More Information:

Unease among Brazil's farmers as Congress votes on GM terminator seeds, The Guardian, December 2013.
Brazil contemplates using 'terminator seeds', TakePart, December 2013.

 

SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

Please help keep SumOfUs strong by chipping in $3.

Urgent Petition to End Child Slavery in India

I received this message from the Walk Free team today and wanted to share it on here. Please read it and sign- children's lives are hanging in the balance here!

Blessings!

Ronell x

***URGENT*** Time is running out. The Indian Parliament is going to adjourn on Friday so we are in Delhi and planning to deliver the petition TOMORROW calling on the Indian Parliament to abolish child slavery in India by passing the "Child and Adolescent Labour Abolition Bill”.

 Click to take action before 8pm on Wednesday so we can add your signature before we head to the printer!

Every day, millions of children in India wake up to long hours of backbreaking labour, working everywhere from stone quarries to carpet factories to rice mills. These children—some as young as 5 years-old—are kept from school and forced to work 7 days a week for up to 18 hours a day in hazardous situations that leave them permanently injured or crippled by heavy loads and dangerous equipment. 

Because these children are often left illiterate and plagued with health problems, they are—in a cruel twist of fate—less likely to find employment once they reach adulthood. This continued enslavement of children traps generations of Indians in a vicious cycle of slavery, illiteracy and poverty.

Thankfully, Indian politicians are considering legislation called the "Child and Adolescent Labour Abolition Bill," which: 1) prohibits employment of children under 14 years of age, 2) outlines harsh sentences for violators, and 3) provides for monitoring of suspected cases of child slavery. This legislation would put an end to the enslavement of children in India, but it risks not passing without a demonstration of mass public support. That is why we are personally delivering 1,010,917 signatures on the 29^thof August to the Parliament of India, calling on them to immediately pass the Child and Adolescent Labour Abolition Bill.

TAKE ACTION. Add your name to the petition calling on the Indian Parliament to abolish child slavery in India.  

Days from now, the Parliament of India will close the doors on its Monsoon Session. They need to know that any further delay in the passage of this historic law banning child labour in their country is simply unacceptable.

For every day that this bill is delayed, millions of children in India will continue to be trapped in the nightmare of modern slavery. While leaders in India remain inactive, an entire generation remains at risk of being bought and sold to work in unimaginable conditions of sex slavery, bonded labour and domestic servitude.

By keeping this crucial bill off the agenda, the Indian Parliament is allowing modern slavery to continue to rob children of the chance to be healthy, educated and free to build a bright future for themselves and for their country.

Tell Indian politicians to pass the "Child and Adolescent Labour Abolition Bill" NOW.

We can end child slavery in India.

After you take action, will you take a moment to forward this email to your friends and family to make sure that as many people as possible join us in pressuring the Indian Parliament to protect millions of children from modern slavery? Thank you in advance for your help.

In solidarity,

Debra, Nick, Jessica, Kate, Mich, Amy and the Walk Free Team