Those who care must take up the struggle for environment
(Photo by VALLE NOVAK) This lovely moth — endangered more than ever now, along with butterflies, bees and birds, was photographed and pictured last year in a column: it was kindly identified by Jim Corcoran as Hyalophora cecropia.
(Courtesy photo) Displays at the Panhandle Building Contractors Association's annual Home and Garden Show offer advice, tips and plenty of inspiration.
Now that the EPA has been pretty much relegated to the dustbin of governmental concern, those of us who know the importance of nature’s balance must take up the slack as best we can.
A recent release from Audubon Society points out that the appointment of Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA — regardless of (or perhaps because of) his repeated attacks on the agency — is a “disaster in the making.”
Please go to http://www,audubon.org/takeaction.
The old tradition of teaching about the “birds and bees” may soon become a thing of the past if those of us who care do not take action. This short column today is to make a bit clearer the situation of neonics — something I feel I have failed to properly address. I did point out that neonic pesticides are tobacco-based, and of course nicotine is poisonous to bees (and many other creatures). Ironically, the foraging carrier bees actually get “hooked” on the nicotine-laced flowers they take pollen from, making them choose those deadly blooms over “clean” ones. They carry it back to the hive to be fed to the “babies” thus wiping out entire colonies.
Obviously, “big tobacco” is still alive and well.
Many people don’t realize our national dependence on bee pollination — almonds, apples, blueberries, zucchini, watermelon — as well as in our home gardens.
Simply stopping using Bayer, Monsanto and Syngenta products can help, but with thousands of pre-inoculated plants being distributed to big box stores with garden sections like Walmart and Home Depot (whose managers may not even be aware of the danger) — the public buys and plants these poison-bearers in their gardens for local bees to forage on and carry to their hives.
Please buy your plants from a reputable bona-fide nursery — and even then, check the labels, since some of them do order a few plants they don’t grow themselves. Pull the labels out all the way and read at the very bottom for the words “neonic” or “pre-treated to deter pests/beetles,” etc.
Did you know that ladybugs are beetles. Most beetles are actually beneficial. Let them do their jobs on the aphids, mites, etc. Let us bring our gardens back to nature’s way and stop the poisons. Get the neonics info. from Natural Resources Defense Council at NRDC.org/save bees. Another source of information is the Xerces Society pollinators@xerces.org
You sacrifice nothing by taking part in this battle. Simply buy your plants at a reputable nursery, and tell the folks elsewhere why. Thanks for caring.