ACTION ALERT
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists nearly 40 pollinator species as threatened or endangered.
Monarch butterflies aren’t faring much better. In California, the Monarch population has declined by 80 percent over 15 years, in part due to the extensive use of Monsanto’s Roundup.
Two Congressmen, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) have written a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy, urging her to review and revise pesticide regulations protecting pollinators. In order to make the letter carry more weight, they’re asking their colleagues to sign on.
In their letter, Reps. Blumenauer and Conyers refer to recent studies revealing that ‘systemic pesticides’including neonicotinoids‘are accumulating in soils and polluting waterways and natural vegetation across the world, leading to widespread impacts on wildlife inhabiting farmland and aquatic habitats.’
They also point out that much of this pesticide use is unnecessary and ineffective.
Please ask your Congress members to sign on to the Blumenauer-Conyers ‘Dear Colleague’ letter. We’re hoping to get 50 Members to sign on, before the letter closes on September 8.
Read the letter
Photo Credit: jenny downing via Compfight cc