Dear John,
BREAKING NEWS: This year’s bee die-off numbers were just reported -- and they show beekeepers lost 44 percent of their colonies. This makes 2019 the second-worst year for bees since the surveys started almost 15 years ago.
Bees pollinate 75% of our food crops. With their populations rapidly declining -- largely thanks to toxic pesticides -- we need all hands on deck to protect them and other pollinators.
Kroger, the largest traditional grocery chain in the country, must step up and do more to protect these vital creatures. We need your help to demand Kroger commit to stop selling food grown with toxic pesticides to protect bees.
Call Kroger: Demand that it stop selling food grown with bee-toxic pesticides!
As you read this, Kroger’s shareholders and its company leadership are gathering for the company’s annual meeting. But pollinator protection is completely missing from the agenda!
We know Kroger can do better. And we know the company listens when enough of us act. Thanks to you, Kroger already established a pollinator policy. It acknowledged that pollinators must be protected. In the policy, it committed to stop selling live outdoor plants grown with bee-toxic neonicotinoid pesticides, encouraged farmers to move away from using toxic pesticides and towards alternative pest management, and supported the expansion of bee-friendly organic foods.
But its policy doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t include any clear, time-bound commitments to stop using pollinator-toxic pesticides. And without pollinators, Kroger’s shelves would be pretty empty.
We have the company’s attention -- but together we must ramp up the pressure and demand Kroger kick toxic pesticides out its supply chain.
Take action now: Call Kroger to say you want it to stop selling food grown with toxic pesticides immediately!
From butterflies, to bees, to children, to farmworkers and rural communities, we’re feeling the impact of toxic pesticides on our environment and our health. We need to get these poisons out of our food system and out of our environment.
As the largest traditional grocery store in the U.S., Kroger has the power to make our food system healthier and safer for pollinators -- and all of us. But it will take a groundswell of outrage from consumers like you, John, to pressure Kroger to improve its pollinator and pesticide policy.
Together, we can protect both people and pollinators from the toxic pesticides used to grow the food Kroger sells.
Make a quick call NOW: Tell Kroger to protect people and our planet from toxic pesticides!
Standing with you,
Kendra Klein, PhD,
Senior staff scientist,
Friends of the Earth
