Bees are in crisis, Friend.

And things are getting worse. Between April 2019 and April 2020, beekeepers reported losing almost half of their hives, their second-worst year on record.1

The only good news? We know what's killing them, and we can stop it. Climate change and habitat loss play a big role. But a class of bee-killing pesticides called neonicotinoids (or "neonics") have been identified as one of the biggest culprits.

We're working to win measures to expand bee habitat, ban the worst uses of bee-killing pesticides, and support farming practices less toxic to our pollinators. But we're running out of time to save the bees.

Help us give bees a chance in the new year: Donate to Environment Colorado's Year-End Drive by midnight on Dec. 31 to help us beat our $200,000 goal.

The most recent numbers were driven by a uniquely bad summer in 2019 -- the worst summer on record -- which saw bee populations drop by a third.2

These kinds of losses aren't sustainable. And they're part of a larger trend.

Over the past two decades, thanks in part to a sharp increase in the use of neonics, agriculture has become 48 times more toxic to insects, including bees. These pesticides are everywhere -- in fact, seeds are often sold coated with neonics and used whether or not there's a pest problem.3

When ingested, these neonics harm bees' brain growth, weaken their immune systems, and hamper their ability to navigate home to their hives. That leads bee colonies to collapse entirely.4,5

There's a reason why the European Union has already passed restrictions on these pesticides.6 We need action here, too.

Make a donation by our end-of-year deadline at midnight on Dec. 31.

This year, all across the country, our national network stood up for bees whenever and however we could:

• We organized support for banning the sale of bee-killing neonics to consumers at the state and local levels.
• We called on the government to ban the use of neonics in wild bee safe havens like parks and refuges.
• We urged Gov. Polis and the federal government to expand bees' habitat through the planting of bee-friendly plants on public lands.
• We're rethinking the overall use of pesticides to grow America's food, and we're working to move our country toward sustainable agricultural practices that are far less chemical-intensive.

We've made some progress, but we'll need to pick up the pace if we want to secure a future for our most important pollinators. And chemical companies will surely oppose us nearly every step of the way.

That's why we need your support. With your backing, we can notch more wins for bees and the environment in 2021.

Donate today.

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.
2. "US beekeepers reported lower winter losses but abnormally high summer losses," ScienceDaily, June 22, 2020.
3. Lauren Aratani, "Pesticide widely used in US particularly harmful to bees, study finds," The Guardian, August 6, 2019.
4. Lauren Aratani, "Pesticide widely used in US particularly harmful to bees, study finds," The Guardian, August 6, 2019.
5. "US beekeepers reported lower winter losses but abnormally high summer losses," ScienceDaily, June 22, 2020.
6. Erik Stokstad, "European agency concludes controversial 'neonic' pesticides threaten bees," Science Magazine, February 28, 2018.

Your donation will be used to support all of our campaigns to protect the environment, from saving the bees and protecting public lands, to standing up for clean water and fighting climate change. None of our work would be possible without supporters like you. Environment Colorado may transfer up to $50 per dues-paying member per year into the Environment Colorado Small Donor Committee.