The Western bumble bee has vanished from 8 states

Dear Friend, Bees are dying at alarming rates. Donate $27 or more now and help us reach our $2,310 goal before midnight! If you've saved payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: [Donate $27 immediately]( [Donate $50 immediately]( [Donate $100 immediately]( [Donate another amount]( Imagine walking into the grocery store to see empty shelves where there used to be a variety of your favorite fruits, veggies, and nuts. This could one day be our reality if bees and other pollinators continue dying at alarming rates. [Act now before it’s too late for bees, our food system, and the planet: Donate $27 or more immediately and help us reach our $2,310 goal before midnight tonight!]( Neonicotinoid pesticides -- produced by companies like Bayer-Monsanto -- are a key driver of pollinator declines. But they’re still widely used in agriculture. What’s more, the EPA could approve them for another 15 years -- but pollinators don’t have 15 years to wait for us to ban neonics. There’s no time to waste, Friend: scientists are calling the massive loss of pollinators and other insects an “insect apocalypse” with dire risks for our food system and the planet. 40% of insect pollinator species are at risk of extinction. We have to act fast to ban the pesticides contributing to this crisis before the damage is irreversible. Help protect bees, our food system, and our planet. Donate $27 or more today to help us reach our $2,310 goal before midnight! If you've saved payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: [Donate $27 immediately]( [Donate $50 immediately]( [Donate $100 immediately]( [Donate another amount]( The American bumblebee population has plummeted by 89% in the last two decades, nearly vanishing from eight states already. Meanwhile, bee-killing pesticides -- neonics -- have made U.S. agriculture nearly 48 times more toxic to insects in the past three decades. Neonics hurt people, too. They have been linked to health impacts like birth defects of the heart and brain, hormone disruption, and autism. Bees that encounter neonics can face horrible fates. The pesticides can kill bees on contact. But even if they survive, the toxic chemicals attack bees’ nerve cells and can harm their cognition, flight ability, and even reproduction. Now, the EPA could approve these bee-killing neonics for another 15 years and subject even more bees to this fate. Why is the EPA dragging its feet on banning neonics? Perhaps because pesticide giants like Bayer-Monsanto continue to funnel big money into disinformation efforts -- all to deny and distract from the role that their products play in bee deaths. But together, we can counter the disinformation, speak louder than the pesticide industry, and push for stronger pollinator protections. Stop companies like Bayer-Monsanto from harming pollinators and destroying our planet: Donate $27 before the clock strikes midnight! If you've saved payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: [Donate $27 immediately]( [Donate $50 immediately]( [Donate $100 immediately]( [Donate another amount]( Bees are an essential part of our ecosystem and way of life. Without bees and other pollinators, we’d have far fewer fruits, veggies, and nuts -- almonds wouldn’t even exist at all. And other crops like coffee and cotton could become rare or more expensive if bees continue to decline. If we don’t act now to ban bee-killing pesticides, today’s children could be some of the last people to share the planet with many species of wild bees. With you by our side, we’re pushing the EPA to ban neonics once and for all. We’re asking big supermarket chains to stop selling foods grown with bee-toxic pesticides and increase organic offerings -- which will shift the market away from these chemicals. And we’re working with Congress and at the state and local level to ban neonics and other bee-toxic pesticides. At the same time, we’re researching and shining a light on the pesticide industry’s disinformation tactics to make sure decision-makers know the truth about the toxic way we produce food. But it’s an uphill battle -- one we can’t win without you. We won’t stand by and let corporate greed trump the health of pollinators, people, and the planet. With your membership support today, we can double down on these efforts and give pollinators a fighting chance! Please, Friend, will you donate $27 or more today and help us reach our $2,310 goal for pollinators, people and the planet? Bees, people, and the planet are on the line. Rush your $27 membership donation and help us reach our $2,310 goal before midnight tonight! If you've saved payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: [Donate $27 immediately]( [Donate $50 immediately]( [Donate $100 immediately]( [Donate another amount]( Standing with you, Kendra Klein Deputy director of science, Friends of the Earth Contact Us: Friends of the Earth U.S. Washington, D.C. | Berkeley, CA 1-877-843-8687 [Contact us]( Email Preferences: [Click here to unsubscribe]( Learn more: www.foe.org/news www.foe.org/about-us www.foeaction.org Connect: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Flickr]( © 2023, Friends of the Earth. All Rights Reserved. [supporter]