Yes, they’re bothersome sometimes. And some people are allergic to them. But they’re very clean and do us a very sweet service.
Tag Archive for bee
Something to Buzz About
Bees are dying of starvation because of “Improved” crops (e.g., soybeans, corn) that don’t produce any nectar. Plant flowers that will provide bees with nectar and pollen. We really need them to pollinate plants that support our own food chain. Pass this on to keep the message buzzing.
[For more easy, money-saving, earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]
Bad Bee-Havior
Kill more bees! They can be a nuisance–when not pollinating our plants so we can have fruit, vegetables, nuts, and flowers. Do we really need all that produce and beauty anyway?
That seems to be the attitude of Syngenta Crop Protection LLC. They’ve asked the EPA to relax their rules about legal limits of a pesticide reside that is a proven cause of the marked decline in the bee population over the last 30 years. They want to increase the limit 4000 times (yes, four thousand), ensuring an even quicker decline in bees and, therefore, crops pollinated by them.
For more details, click on http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060005321.
Are You Unwittingly Committing Bee-acide?
Your bee-friendly plants may be killing bees. According to a report from Friends of the Earth and the Pesticide Research Institute, some of those plants (like sunflowers) that you thought were bee-friendly have been treated–before they reach Lowe’s, Home Depot, and other garden centers–with pesticides that harm bees. The EPA’s new rules ban use of certain pesticides (those that contain imidacloprid, dinotefuran, clothianidin and thiamethoxam) where bees are present. But that doesn’t ensure that those lovely plants have not been infused with the stuff before they hit your store.
For more information, read the NBC Science News article “Bee-killing pesticide found in garden store plants: What does it mean?”
When you shop for plants for your garden, read their labels and ask if the plants have been treated with nerve-killing pesticides that harm and kill bees. If the answer is Yes, or if they don’t know, tell them you’ll shop elsewhere until they can assure you that their plants are not harmful.