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Insect populations are taking a hit around the globe, and climate change and Big Ag may be to blame.
According to a study conducted by University College London (UCL), the combination of rising temperatures due to climate change and land-use changes are directly linked to widespread losses in insect species around the world.
Richard Coy is a fourth-generation beekeeper. For decades, he moved his bees around the country to provide pollination services and make honey in multiple states, returning to a home base in Arkansas, where they produced “soybean honey.”
“We called it [that] because that was basically the only thing growing in the area,” he said. “But the bees were actually collecting honey off all of the wild plants along the edges of the soybean fields.”
Friends of the Earth today released its latest Bee-Friendly Retailer Scorecard, ranking 25 of the largest US grocery retailers on pesticides and pollinator protection in their food and beverage supply chains. Ten retailers improved their scores since last year, with Giant Eagle, Whole Foods (NASDAQ: AMZN)and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) ranking as the top three.
Buried in the United State Congress’ $1 trillion, 2,702-page-long infrastructure bill — currently in the Senate — is a short, easily skippable section with an equally small budget. The title: “Pollinator-friendly practices on roadsides and highway rights of way.”
Montana is about to spray insecticides on 2.6 million acres of Montana grasslands, threatening pollinating bees, organic farms, birds and wildlife.
A study published Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science bolsters alarm about the role that agricultural pesticides play in what scientists have dubbed the "bugpocalypse" and led authors to call for stricter regulations across the U.S.
Imports of cheap, fake honey from Asia are pushing American beekeepers to financial collapse, according to a lawsuit. Thousands of commercial beekeepers in the US have taken legal action against the country’s largest honey importers and packers for allegedly flooding the market with hundreds of thousands of tonnes of counterfeit honey.
The European Union’s top court on Thursday upheld the EU’s partial ban on three insecticides linked to harming bees, preventing their use on certain crops. The European Court of Justice dismissed an appeal by Bayer (BAYGn.DE) to overturn a lower EU court's 2018 decision to uphold the ban.
Honey bee colony losses continue at alarming rates. 2019 saw the highest summer loss rate ever reported.
The National Caucus of Environmental Legislators has stepped up to address the crisis with legislation to restrict the use of bee-killing neonicotinoid insecticides (neonics).
Across the country, 40 neonic bills have been introduced in 16 states.
TAKE ACTION: Ask your state legislator to support a ban on bee-killing neonic seed treatments.
Bees provide the crucial ecosystem service of pollination, but are under threat, with 37% of EU bee species with known trends exhibiting population declines. One apparent cause of these declines is pesticides. Pesticide usage is pervasive, with 4.1 billion kilograms of active ingredient applied globally in 2017, nearly double the amount used in 1990.
