For almost 15 years now, the world has watched in horror as the friendly bees that we and our environment depend on die in droves. Colony collapse disorder (CCD), a more recent phenomenon, and a number of human-created issues, like the use of insecticides, habitat destruction, and global warming, have taken a major toll on these powerful little creatures.
This is a global crisis -- with CCD now ravaging bee colonies, and the use of insecticide at an all time high to supply us with masses of perfect looking crops, we are at risk of losing bees forever. Now, it is coming to light that restrictions placed by the European Union (EU) on the use of neonicotinoids -- an insecticide and aggressive bee-killer -- are basically being ignored.
Sign the petition today and demand that the EU recommit to enforcing its ban on neonicotinoids, which are known to kill bees at extremely high rates.
A moratorium on neonicotinoids was passed by the EU in 2013, but by 2018 it was clear that an outright ban was necessary. Environmentalists saw this as cause for celebration. Bees are a cornerstone of our environment and human life. On average, for every three bites of food you take, you owe one of those to the work of a bee. But the celebration was short lived.
Since the moratorium took hold in 2013, over 200 authorizations for the use of these murderous pesticides were granted. That's basically one exception to the ban being granted every two weeks. As one scientist put it, the "exception has become the rule." Why even have these restrictions if you are not going to uphold them? Since 1962, the number of bee colonies per 100 acres in the U.S. has declined by 90%. There is no time to lose.
A world without bees is a world without life itself. It is estimated that if we lost bees, initially we would have about half of the fruits and vegetables that are available in supermarkets today. And that would be just the beginning -- without the plants that bees pollinate, many animals would not be able to survive. We are all connected, and slowly but surely our own food sources would disappear without these tiny pollinating powerhouses.
That's why we are calling on the EU to do the right thing, and put their actions where their words are. Sign the petition and demand that the EU actually uphold its ban on the use of neonicotinoids, the notorious bee killer!