For the last two years, OAEC’s Executive Director Dave Henson has been facilitating a network of U.S. organizations that are developing strategies to protect pollinators such as bees, bats, birds, butterflies. Two of the leading organizations working on pollinator protection are our allies at the Center for Food Safety and Friends of the Earth. We deeply support their efforts and hope you will, too.
We urge you to take action on the following campaigns to protect pollinators:
1. Friends of the Earth is holding an Ace and True Value national week of action (November 2nd-7th) to urge the retailers to stop selling bee-killing pesticides. People across the country are signing up to deliver a letter to their local retailer; there will be store front actions across the country; and Friends of the Earth will be delivering all of the &Zip=20009" target="_blank">petition signatures gathered to the Ace and True Value corporate headquarters. Please help make the week of action a success!
&Zip=20009" target="_blank">Sign the petition online or join thousands of people nationwide in delivering a letter in person to your local Ace or True Value store (suggested text below).
Sample letter:
Dear John Venhuizen (Ace Hardware) and John Hartmann (True Value),
A growing body of science has implicated neonicotinoids (neonics), the world’s most widely used pesticide, as a key factor in recent global bee die-offs. Unfortunately, many of the “bee-friendly” seedlings and plants sold to unsuspecting consumers in your stores may have been pre-treated with neonicotinoids at much higher doses than are used on farms, where levels of neonicotinoid use are already raising concerns among beekeepers and scientists.
Because there is no clear labeling to indicate the presence of neonics in nursery plants, customers like me may unknowingly purchase pre-treated “bee-friendly” plants with the intent of providing habitats for bees and other pollinators, but end up causing them harm. Obviously, this situation does not benefit bees, customers like me, or my trust in you as a retailer.
The EU has suspended popular neonics and a majority of the UK’s largest home improvement retailers, including Homebase, B&Q and Wickes, have made public commitments to no longer sell products containing pesticides linked to declining bee populations.
In the U.S., more than twenty nurseries, landscaping companies, and retailers—including Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, Lowe’s, Whole Foods, and BJ’s Wholesale Club, have taken steps to eliminate bee-killing pesticides from their stores.
As a concerned customer, I ask that you show similar leadership and commit to not sell neonicotinoid pesticides, as well as plants treated with these pesticides, to protect honey bees and other pollinators essential to our food supply and the environment.
Sincerely,
[your name]
2. The Center for Food Safety recently published an important report called “Monarchs in Peril,” and they are spearheading a campaign to insist that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service protect the threatened monarch butterfly. We urge you to sign the petition.
3. Pesticide-coated popcorn seeds? No, thanks! The Center for Food Safety also recently launched a campaign demanding that two major popcorn companies phase out uses of bee-toxic chemicals. Learn more and sign the petition.
4. Lastly, we can urge the White House to do better on pollinator protection efforts, and tell our Members of Congress to support the Save America’s Pollinators Act.
Thank you for standing up for pollinators and food security in the United States!
