Friend,

Neonicotinoid pesticides, or neonics, are truly devastating for bees -- and the numbers make it clear that the results aren't sustainable.

By one estimate, you're half as likely to see a bumblebee today as you would have been just a few decades ago, and in particular, the American bumblebee has vanished entirely from eight states.1,2

Bees can't defend themselves from neonics. They're counting on us to step up for them, and here's how we're going to do it:

• Ban the worst uses of neonics, just like Maine and Massachusetts did this year.
• Get Amazon to take neonics off its online shelves, just like we helped convince Home Depot and Lowe's to commit to.
• Win Endangered Species Act protections for threatened pollinators like the American bumblebee.
• Protect and expand critical habitat for pollinators, just like we won in the bipartisan infrastructure bill this fall.

This is an ambitious plan, and we can't do it alone. With just a few hours left in our Year-End Drive, I need to know, are you in?

Donate before midnight and generous donors will match your gift dollar for dollar, up to $100,000 nationwide.

Thank you for standing up for the bees,

Rex Wilmouth
Senior Program Director

1. Chris Mooney, "Bumblebees are dying across North America and Europe as the climate warms, scientists say," The Washington Post, February 6, 2020.
2. Asha Gilbert, "American bumblebees have disappeared from these 8 states. Now they could face extinction," USA Today, October 14, 2021.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Environment Colorado <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, Dec 31, 2021
Subject: Until midnight only: Double your impact to help save the bees
To: Friend <[email protected]>

Friend,

Bee populations are collapsing.

Bumblebees, other native bees and honeybees are all dying off at a devastating rate, in large part due to the use of a class of toxic pesticides called neonicotinoids, or neonics.

We need to step up if we're going to save the bees in 2022. We know that we have what it takes to win, but it's going to take resources.

Generous donors are matching donations to Environment Colorado until midnight tonight, up to $100,000 nationwide.

Will you double your impact by donating now?

Neonics have become dramatically more common in recent years, and that's a big reason why agriculture has become 48 times more toxic to insects, including bees.1

Neonics cause permanent and irreversible damage to baby bees' brains, weaken their immune systems, and hamper their ability to navigate home to their hives. Even worse, the impact is felt across multiple generations of bees. That leads bee colonies to collapse entirely.2,3,4

The numbers are staggering. The American bumblebee population has dropped by 89% nationwide, and the species has vanished entirely from eight states.5

One study found that we are half as likely to see a bumblebee today as we were a few decades ago. Another found that the number of honeybee colonies in the U.S. declined by 58% from the 1940s to the 2000s.6,7

This issue is critical, Friend, because there's no coming back from extinction. But together, I know that we can win -- here's why:

• Our national network has helped ban some of the worst uses of neonics in five states now, including Maine and Massachusetts this year.
• We helped convince Lowe's and Home Depot to take bee-killing pesticides off their shelves, and together with our national network, we've collected more than 100,000 signatures asking Amazon to stop selling neonics.
• We've helped pass federal protections for pollinators on Department of Defense-owned land, and secured $2 million per year for the next five years for roadside pollinator habitat in the infrastructure bill.

But there's still so much more work to do -- from getting neonics out of wildlife refuges, to winning our campaign to get neonics off of Amazon's online shelves, and banning the worst uses of neonics here in Colorado.

We have momentum on our side, but the road ahead is steep. Are you with us?

If you donate today, your matched contribution will go twice as far, up to $100,000 nationwide. Stand with us to save the bees, and be part of all of our campaigns to protect wild spaces, fight global warming and so much more.

Thank you for making it all possible,

Rex Wilmouth
Senior Program Director

1. Lauren Aratani, "Pesticide widely used in US particularly harmful to bees, study finds," The Guardian, August 6, 2019.
2. "US beekeepers reported lower winter losses but abnormally high summer losses," ScienceDaily, June 22, 2020.
3. Katie Hunt, "Pesticides damage the brains of baby bees, new research finds," CNN, March 3, 2020.
4. Sofia Quaglia, "Bees may take generations to recover from one exposure to insecticides," The Guardian, November 22, 2021.
5. Asha Gilbert, "American bumblebees have disappeared from these 8 states. Now they could face extinction," USA Today, October 14, 2021.
6. Chris Mooney, "Bumblebees are dying across North America and Europe as the climate warms, scientists say," The Washington Post, February 6, 2020.
7. Aylin Woodward, "Last year, 40% of honey-bee colonies in the US died. But bees aren't the only insects disappearing in unprecedented numbers.," Business Insider, June 21, 2019.

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.