writeaboutwarming

July 16, 2014 - Stephen Leahy has just written a landmark article, which can be found at http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-new-ddt-is-starving-out-insect-eating-songbirds.  I kind of wish he wouldn't use that phrase, "the new ddt," though I understand why he does.  He's actually talking about neonicotinoids, which I've written about here previously.  His article is based on a science article published in the journal Nature on July 9.  The name of the article begins "Declines in insectivorous birds ... ." Neonicotinoids were introduced 20 years ago.  Their usage has increased every year since then.  When did their manufacturers realize that these toxins were 5,000 - 10,000 times more poisonous than DDT? As the now-adage goes, what did they know, and when did they know it?  The contagion makers have unleashed on an unsuspecting world amounts to a lethal pandemic.  You see, neonicotinoids don't stay put.  They are absorbed not just by cr...

July 15, 2013 - Last week, 37 million dead bees were discovered on just one farm in Ontario, Canada.  Last month, 50,000 dead bees were found in a parking lot in Oregon.  Last winter, the British Beekeepers Association recorded the worst die-off in its history. According to the activist group SumOfUs.org, a commercial beekeeper in the United States lost 500 million bees, constituting 80% of all of his bees.  The numbers are fast becoming staggering, and the reason is no longer unknown.  Once again, big money wins, the rest of us - so far - lose. Scientists now say there can no longer be any doubt.  Bees are dying all over the world, and there is a common thread that links all of their deaths: neonicotinoid pesticides.  While there is no doubt that harmful insects are effectively eradicated by neonics, the downside to their toxicity is the simultaneous elimination of beneficial insects - foremost among them, bees.  It is frightening but true that...

April 29, 2013 – Today was a good day.   Today the European Commission voted to ban the use of a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids for two years.   Fifteen countries voted for the ban, which is not enough to constitute a “qualified majority.”   That’s the reason for the ban’s two year duration.   The moratorium applies to all member nations of the European Union, and England, and will begin no later than December 1 of this year.   It does not apply to crops that do not attract bees, or to winter crops.   Because it is the seed that is treated, the sale and use of seeds – primarily of corn, soy and canola - are prohibited.   Furthermore, none of this type of pesticide can be sold to amateur growers. Back in January, the European Food Safety Authority issued a statement regarding the unacceptability of neonicotinoids because of the danger they pose to bees.   Research has found that these pesticides impair bees’ ability to navigate, f...