Dear NRDC Activist,

As a staff attorney for NRDC's Pollinator Initiative, I've spent years fighting to end harmful uses of neonics. These deadly pesticides are causing pollinator populations to collapse — and when bees and butterflies die, our health and the future of our food supply suffer too. It's essential that we use every legal tool available to end their bee-killing uses ... before it's too late.

CLAIM YOUR 5x MATCH: Make your first donation to power our work to end the use of deadly neonics and fight for our natural environment on every front before midnight tomorrow night — and your gift will be quintupled, up to $100,000. Even $5 will go a long way to help save our pollinators!

The skyrocketing use of neonics is devastating to vital pollinators, but the dire consequences don't end with them:

• Simply put, fewer bees = less food. If pollinator populations continue to decline, so will crop yields. This could turn staple foods like fruits and veggies into luxury items that families can't afford and deepen food insecurity that would hit low-income communities and communities of color the hardest.
• They're hazardous to human health. Because the EPA has allowed the widespread use of neonics for so long, they are everywhere — in playgrounds, lawns and gardens, drinking water, and the food we eat, including kids' favorites like apples, grapes, and even baby food. As a result, the CDC found that around HALF of us in the United States are exposed to a neonic on any given day.
• Neonics spread everywhere. After being used to treat crop seeds, 95% of the neonic product is left to contaminate the soil, poison nearby wildlife, and leach into our waterways. The footprint of these pesticides even reaches the ecosystems of our rivers and lakes, where fish and other wildlife starve after neonics kill the insects they eat to survive.

Our Pollinator Initiative has been pressuring federal agencies to rein in harmful uses of neonics and we've been making important progress. But we need your support to finally end harmful uses of these pesticides once and for all. Remember, all gifts matched 5X up to $100,000 but ONLY until the clock strikes midnight tomorrow.

We sued the EPA in 2017 after they approved dozens of neonic pesticides without complying with the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA requires them to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service if a pesticide may affect endangered species before they approve it... which they repeatedly didn't bother doing. So, we took them to court.

After four long years of litigation, the EPA has agreed to evaluate the effects of multiple deadly pesticides on endangered bees, birds, and other wildlife, thanks to pressure from supporters like you. But we can't let up now!

Will you chip in with a gift today so that NRDC can keep holding federal agencies — in and out of court — accountable for their failure to protect our environment from these toxic pesticides? Make your first gift before midnight tomorrow night. It'll be MATCHED 5x, up to $100,000, and go even further to put an end to harmful uses of neonics, defend our environment on every front, and invest in a healthier, greener future.

We're so close to getting harmful uses of these chemicals banned for good. Are you in?

Sincerely,

Lucas Rhoads
Staff Attorney, Pollinator Initiative, Nature Program, NRDC