the massive loss of bees and an easy thing you can do to help

[Kflowers]

As Mother Jones reports, a century of heavy pesticide usage has not been kind to the honey bees of North America. In the last few decades a new class of insecticides called neonicotinoids have contributed in no small measure to hive collapse. Many e birds in the United States, where bird populations have dropped by an estimated 29 percent since 1970, bird species are also dying out or in danger due to the presence of neonicotinoids in their food chain.


According to NPR, neonicotinoids, unlike other pesticides that coat the surface of a plant, become integrated with the cells of the target, eventually being expressed in pollen strains, ingested by bees. Once transmitted to pollinators, the substance attacks the nervous system, leading to confusion and death. Given the widespread use of these insecticides, that single example has been multiplied by billions across the whole of Europe, year after year.



More at link.

What you can do personally.

Teams of scientists around the country, and the world, are taking the disappearance of the honey bee seriously, and you can, too. It starts with taking small steps, like planting wildflowers in your yard or community.

Earth’s Honey Bees Are Dying Off, Here’s How You Can Help Save Them!

Take the Honey Bee Pledge and protect our pollinators!

blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com

 

[FeebysOwner]

Thanks! I have azaleas in both my front yard and back yard that are now in full bloom, and I see various bees on/around them. I also, miraculously, have been able to keep some heather growing in my front yard and since those bloom all year long, there are always bees among them too. Butterflies like both as well!!!

 

[LTS3]

There's more ideas on how to save honey bees here: 10 Ways to Save the Bees - The Bee Conservancy

National Honey Bee Day is on Aug. 21 this year

 

[fionasmom]

Very true. We recently had to have several trees and bushes removed due to ganoderma which is a fungus that is usually untreatable. One loss was a huge rosemary bush that the bees loved and it broke my heart. I went out and bought several rosemary bushes and planted them in pots, along with lavender and created a bee watering station with corks floating on the surface of a large shallow tub of water. There are ways to create feeding stations but you have to be careful how many bees will come and if they will then decide to make a hive in a place where a less bee friendly person will spray insecticides on them.

 

[Kflowers]

Update on what's killing bees: pesticides as follows, with links for more details

Pesticides that kill bees

Pesticides, herbicides, and fungicide ingredients that are considered highly toxic to bees (that you'll want to avoid) include rotenone, pyrethrins, sabadilla, spinosad, diatomaceous earth, copper sulfate, and insecticidal soaps and oils.
(spinosad is found in some flea repelants.)

Bee Friendly Natural Pesticides That Won’t Harm Pollinators - Gardening Channel


The weed killer dicamba is emerging as a big culprit in the mass die-off of bees. Wind drift spreads dicamba from the fields it was intended to cover to near by farms, which aren't using GMO plants and it considers those plants weeds and kills them.

Pesticides Are Harming Bees in Literally Every Possible Way


Neonicotinoid pesticides commonly found in agricultural areas kill bees and hurt their ability to reproduce, two separate large-scale studies confirmed for the first time Thursday.
Neonicotinoid pesticides are slowly killing bees

New Study Shows Roundup Kills Bees

Glyphosate targets undesired weeds—as well as honeybees

www.sierraclub.org