Location: Great Pond. How pristine the air, how pure the environment. W-hat? Come again? Pure the environment? Says who? Wellfleet’s kettle ponds may not have pesticide residue in them yet, but mercury, from acid rain, makes any fishies swimming about inappropriate for human consumption, according to the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Yesterday I was at Town Hall, reading Annual Reports from the 1980s. Why, you may ask? The town of Mashpee passed a Board of Health regulation against herbicidal spraying in easements and under power lines in 1982. I was hoping perhaps Wellfleet had done the same. I found no evidence of such precognition, but the purity of water was definitely of greater concern in those days. In fact, our town’s folk seemed a lot more aware of environmental risk and kept issuing statements to that effect.
I ran into an old friend at Town Hall, former chair of an important committee and now one of the main opponents of the wind turbine project. He was in a rush and apologized. “Can’t talk," he said. "I am consumed by windmills.”
I laughed and replied, “I understand. I’m consumed by herbicides.”
Yesterday I found an update on the bee situation, and it's not good news. Read the piece here. Pesticides could be killing our pollinators.
At the end, the reporter tells a tale about a new pesticide, created by Bayer Crop Science in 2006, supposedly not harmful to honeybees and approved by the EPA until the Natural Resources Defense Council had the sense to bring a lawsuit. The pesticide is no longer available. Note, its purpose was “to disrupt the mating patterns of insects that threaten citrus, lettuce and grapes.” Now, how crazy is that? Seems to me science needs to get back to helping the common man, rather than the corporate farmer ...Have you heard about colony collapse? Were you aware our pollinators have become endangered over the past ten years? Are you worried about this situation?
9 comments:
yes, yes, and yes.
I have heard about bee colony collapse and it is very troubling. I think people need to pay attention to this since it is a sign that the environment is not healthy.
Colony collapse and veroa mite are huge concerns world wide. 95% of plants are insect pollinated, I once read, so without our buzzing friends, the world would definitely starve.
Yes, colony collapse is a very big problem here in Arkansas (and throughout the world now). I did a story last year on the Gulf of Mexico's "Dead Zone," which is thought to be caused by pesticide run off from cornfields in the Midwest. Very troubling indeed.
I too have heard of colony collapse and realize how very frightening it is. I hope we can turn this thing around. I'm sure I'm not doing enough myself, but I do find it infuriating that these big corporations are able to produce and sell and use chemicals that are responsible for destroying land, animal populations and causing cancers. It's just craziness.
I was listening to a sobering report about the situation with honeybees - it is so sad. I fear many do not realize what their decline represents.
I read your blog and see the stunning photos and am reminded how important it is to dig beneath the surface to understand the full situation. Thanks for helping us understand.
I have friends who are keeping bees because of this problem, and we bought a bee house to encourage more bees as well. It's all very worrisome.
Oh man. We need bees! I wish Bee Movie had made more of an impact.
The loss of bees is important but it's only one aspect of the damage herbicides do! The poison ends up in our water supply and it negatively impacts the fertility of the soil. We need to stop this craziness.
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