Dear friends,
Right now,
billions of bees are dying. Already, there are nowhere near enough honeybees in Europe to pollinate the crops, and in California -- the biggest food producer in the US -- beekeepers are losing 40% of their bees each year.
We're in the middle of an environmental holocaust that threatens all of us, because without pollination by bees, our whole food chain is under threat!
Scientists are sounding the alarm about pesticides that are toxic to bees, and say we're using way, way more pesticides on our crops than we need. And as with oil companies and climate change, big chemical companies that sell pesticides are fighting back with corporate-funded junk science that questions the evidence, giving politicians an excuse to delay.
But
this year we could finally see a crackdown on these toxins in Europe, Canada, and the United States! -- and Avaaz has mapped a plan to make it happen:
- Turn the pesticide scientists into whistleblowers to testify to officials and Ministers;
- Run urgent studies to show how crops will flourish without these poisons;
- Launch massive public campaigns with political champions to win the bans.
Scientific studies and global public campaigns are expensive. Avaaz may be the only crowdsourced funding model in the world able to raise enough, fast enough to fund the
world's first global scale, grassroots supported study into how we farm without these poisons, to decisively challenge the junk science of big pharma. The need is urgent, and if we can't do this, it's not clear who can.
This is a final battle for the bees -- chip in what you can:
We've funded key scientific studies already. We have the world's largest petition for bees -- 4.4 million strong. And our global campaign helped win a moratorium in Europe and turn blockers like Britain to support the ban. But it still isn't enough.
Chemical companies fund political campaigns, lean on officials, and muddy reporting on the science. In the US, the Environmental Protection Agency is being gutted by Trump's new administrator. And in Europe the German Agriculture Minister, renowned for his close ties with Bayer and Syngenta, just delayed the vote.
Bees are vital to life on earth -- they pollinate one in three of our bites to eat! And even studies run by pesticide companies confirm the scale of the crisis! It's crazy that we need to pull out all the stops to fight to get these toxins banned. But this is exactly the kind of battle our movement was made for.
Chip in whatever you can now so we can all get to work:
The real experts -- the beekeepers and scientists -- want these deadly pesticides banned. If we all chip in we will amplify their voices, show massive public support for a ban, and stop the poison profiteers killing off this beautiful species we depend on to survive.
With hope,
Alice, Danny, Marigona, Allison, Mia, Spyro and the rest of the Avaaz team
More information:
Europe poised for total ban on bee-harming pesticides (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/23/europe-poised-for-total-ban-on-bee-harming-pesticides Strongest evidence yet that neonicotinoids are killing bees (New Scientist)
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2139197-strongest-evidence-yet-that-neonicotinoids-are-killing-bees/ Would we starve without bees? (BBC)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zg4dwmn Attack of the bee killers: Documents show Bayer and Syngenta teamed up with farmers to get around bee-friendly regulation (Politico)
https://www.politico.eu/article/europes-lost-colonies-bees-neonicotinoids/ Farms could slash pesticide use without losses (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/06/farms-could-slash-pesticide-use-without-losses-research-reveals Pesticide Lobby Spends Millions To Defend Chemicals Tied To Bee Deaths (Huffington Post)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/29/pesticide-lobby-bees_n_2980870.html _3_300x150.jpg)
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