As spring comes into full bloom, I am reminded that bees need us more than ever. These vital pollinators are still in trouble. Beekeepers lost more than 40% of their hives last year and are once again reporting devastating losses.
But people like you are continuing to step up every day, working to protect honey bees. From pesticide-free backyard gardens to bee protective policies moving through state legislatures and Congress, change is afoot.
Support this growing movement » Across the country, the threat to honey bees is galvanizing people into action. And with your support, we at PAN are keeping the pressure on local, state and federal decisionmakers to take action on bee-harming neonicotinoid (“neonic”) pesticides. We’ll continue to do so until we get real, long-term results. Will you help us keep up the buzz?
As our staff scientists here at PAN tell me, bees are responsible for one in three bites of food we eat. And honey bees pollinate many of my favorite foods, like almonds, apples and avocados. Not to mention the economic value of their pollination services — more than $19 billion! — we rely on bees every day.
Donate today » Our work to protect bees is important and urgent. EPA is still moving at a stubbornly slow pace, but we’re not letting the agency off the hook. In March, PAN and partners hand-delivered petitions from more than half a million people, urging Administrator Gina McCarthy to prioritize protecting bees from pesticides.
Also in March, PAN was in DC urging members of Congress to sign on to the “Saving America’s Pollinators Act.” To date, the bill has 57 co-sponsors — with more to come. And at the state level, PAN is working with partners to pass bee bills in Michigan and California. In Oregon, the city of Eugene just became the first to declare its public spaces neonic-free “Honey Bee Havens.” Your city could be next!
Honey bees need help urgently. And thanks to people like you, the movement to protect them is only getting stronger.
Happy Earth day! And many thanks for all that you do.
Judy Hatcher, Executive Director
Pesticide Action Network
