It seems pollinators are on everyone ’s mind as bee population decline continues to carry on in front of our eyes . Last week , a bumblebee specie was put on a prominent endanger metal money inclination , and more than 100 scientist send out a letter to President Obama ’s new Pollinator Health Task Force guide out all the way in which we ’re wrong our pollinators by using neonicotinoid pesticides .
Heading Toward ExtinctionIn the worst tidings for bees , a fellow member of their own has been put on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List as an Endangered coinage . Bombus fraternus — known to you and me as a mintage of humblebee — has examine an 86 - percent universe decline and a 29 - pct range decline since 2001 . At this pace , the humblebee could be gone in 80 to 90 eld . Turning U.S. grassland into industrial - agriculture monocultures , plus rampant neonicotinoid pesticide use , is being blamed as the primary cause of this bumblebee ’s ruin . This is not cool for anyone eating nutrient but particularly not for farmers in the Southeast , Mid - Atlantic and Midwest regions — the bee ’s native range of mountains — who want this bee to pollinate crops .
( Incidentally , theAmerican eelandPacific Bluefin tunaare also among the 22,413 specie now on the IUCN Red List . )
What ’s a Farmer to Do?It ’s not just farmers who play a role in aid to land back this bumblebee . Gardeners and homeowner also need to experience their natural process are immediately affecting pollinators . Here are three things we could all be working toward :
Please Preserve PollinatorsHow is it 2014 and we ’re still having to ask to “ preserve ” something that ’s inherently good ? I long for the day I can discontinue writing about this group or that group petitioning the government activity to do what ’s in reality right , such as — in this case — halting the use of the pollinator - kill neonicotinoid pesticides . Regardless , 108 scientists — entomologists , agronomists , ecologists and ecotoxicologists — signed a letter to the Pollinator Health Task Force appoint this summertime to ask for action against neonics . Among their requests :
And until neonicotinoids are banned altogether :
The petition in this letter do n’t appear to be far - fetched , as the Environmental Protection Agency lately completed a study of soybeans that says neonicotinoid pesticide expend playsno part in soybean yield , which mean halting the pesticide household ’s exercise should n’t harm craw production — or soybean production , at least . ( you may translate theEPA ’s full findingsandcomment on the resultsof this study until Dec. 22 , 2014 . )
The task force is wrapping up its Pollinator Health Strategy that President Obama mandated in his “ make a Federal Strategy to advertise the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators ” memorandum . We ’ll see if this letter of the alphabet has any shock , as the undertaking force is set to turn its Pollinator Health Strategy this wintertime .
There ’s always a lot of pollinator military action admit place — topically , across the nation and around the world . Jump on board ! These bee are n’t going to make unnecessary themselves .
Read more about what you could do to facilitate bees and other pollinators :
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