Friend,
Our bees are in the midst of a crisis -- their populations are collapsing, and we need to take action.
A long and growing list of threats are driving bee deaths, from a warming climate to shrinking habitats -- and the summer of 2019 was the single worst one for bees on record.[1] But researchers are particularly concerned about one bee killer: Neonicotinoid pesticides, also known as neonics.
Saving the bees means stopping the worst uses of these bee-killing pesticides. Tell our governor to take action.
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Pollinators are vital to the health of our ecosystems. Bees of all kinds -- from the familiar honeybee to America's thousands of wild species -- are nature's best.[2]
They're truly incredible creatures: Wherever they thrive, the web of life is stronger, broader and more colorful. And we're losing them by the millions.
The European Union, Canada and four U.S. states have already passed restrictions on neonics. There's a reason for that: In the two decades that we've been using them on our crops, gardens and parks, they've been strongly linked with bee colony collapse.
When bees ingest these chemicals through treated plants, their immune systems are weakened and their ability to navigate home to their hives is hampered. Neonics even harm the brain development of baby bees.[3,4]
There's a lot that we need to do to save the bees, including expanding and protecting bee habitat and making our farming practices less toxic. One of the best steps we can take right now? Tell Gov. Polis: Ban the worst uses of neonic pesticides in Colorado.
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To secure a future for the bees, we need to plant bee-friendly plants and protect more habitat so wild bees can thrive, move American agriculture in a more sustainable direction, and keep harmful pesticides away from the places where bees should be safest of all: wildlife refuges.
Colorado can take a great first step toward that vision by banning the worst uses of neonic pesticides. Uses like selling neonics to consumers for their lawns and gardens, and pre-treated seeds (which make the plants that grow from them toxic to bees without spraying), are the ones we should dispense with first.
With your help, we can make sure bees never have a summer as bad as 2019's again. Take action.
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Thanks for making it all possible,
Hannah Collazo
State Director
1. "US beekeepers reported lower winter losses but abnormally high summer losses," ScienceDaily, June 22, 2020.
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2. "Native plants and ecosystem services: Pollination," Michigan State University Department of Entomology, accessed September 21, 2020.
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3. Lauren Aratani, "Pesticide widely used in US particularly harmful to bees, study finds," The Guardian, August 6, 2019.
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4. "US beekeepers reported lower winter losses but abnormally high summer losses," ScienceDaily, June 22, 2020.
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