One out of every three bites of food you take depended on a bee to get it into your mouth. Love salad? Gotta have coffee? Want popcorn next time you go the movies? Then you need bees. Pollination is more than important to our survival, it is an irreplaceable piece. Despite knowing this, for decades leading insecticide manufacturers have produced and sold a class of chemicals known to kill bees.
As explained on the Friends of the Earth website, “Neonicotinoids (aka neonics) are one of the most common pesticides used in agriculture and are also used extensively by home and garden centers. Research shows, unbeknownst to consumers, many “bee-friendly” garden plants have been pre-treated with these bee-killing pesticides. Exposure to neonics can kill bees directly and also makes them more susceptible to other impacts like pests, diseases, loss of habitat and a changing climate.”
In true market economy form after feeling pressure from consumers to do the right thing, retail giants Lowes and Home Depot have stopped selling these insecticides and Costco has asked the manufacturers of products that include or used neonics to stop using them. This is a giant step towards saving bees. This is a giant step to saving ourselves.
If you want to grow this movement to grow the bee population, consider not shopping at stores that still sell goods that used neonics. To find out what else you can do, please watch this TED talk.
