From: "Paul Ferris, SumOfUs.org" <us@sumofus.org>
Date: May 29, 2014 at 10:28:45 AM CST
To: "Paul England" <Paulalengland@msn.com>
Subject: Dead bees. Everywhere.
Reply-To: us@sumofus.org
In just 48 hours, one of the biggest sellers of bee-killing poisions will hold its annual shareholder meeting.
We can't let the pesticide industry be the only voice in the room when the company discusses what to do -- so we're urgently organizing activist beekeepers to attend the meeting and speak out.
Can you chip in $1 to help the beekeepers travel to the meeting?
 |
|
Paul,
This could be huge: a global retailer might be about to pull bee-killing pesticides from its shelves.
But with just 48 hours to go before its annual shareholder meeting, one of the biggest sellers of these poisons is still refusing to act. So we're urgently organizing beekeepers to travel to the meeting and speak out -- and generate a swarm of media coverage to push the company to act.
Bees are dying off in their millions around the world, including 37 million (!) on a single North American farm last season. After years of research, scientists finally know the cause. "Neonics" -- deadly pesticides produced by Bayer and other chemical giants.But while the bees are dying, corporations around the world are still selling these bee-killing pesticides.
But if one global seller of these poisons breaks ranks, it could change the whole game. That's why we're targeting one of the biggest -- Lowe's -- and we can't allow the pesticide industry to be the only voice in the room when shareholders decide what to do.
We only have 48 hours -- can you urgently chip in $1 to help activist beekeepers who've been watching their bees die for years take their message directly to the shareholders, and raise a storm outside the meetings too?
Yes, I'll chip in $1 to take the voices of beekeepers to the meeting and launch a massive campaign get bee-killing pesticides cleared from shelves worldwide.
Only recently, the giant US retailer Lowe’s was found to be selling so-called ‘bee-friendly’ plants that were actually laced with neonics! It’s almost unbelievable. But as long as retailers like Lowe's in the US and Canada, or Bunnings in Australia, won’t remove neonics from their shelves, then the world’s bee population is still at risk.
We know that consumer pressure on retailers works. Before Europe’s partial ban on neonics, there was a huge movement that pushed some of the biggest retailers on the continent to voluntarily remove neonics from their shelves. If we can make sure that other retailers in Canada, the US, Australia and elsewhere pledge to stop selling neonics then we can halt the sale of these deadly pesticides.
The voices of the beekeepers is powerful -- and that's why these companies and their shareholders need to hear from the beekeepers. Last year, after thousands of SumOfUs members chipped in, our activist beekeepers traveled to Chicago and took their message directly to independent garden store owners at the world's largest gardening convention -- singing up dozens to our campaign.
Can you chip in $1 to help us fund beekeepers to speak out and to push companies to remove bee-killing pesticides from their shelves?
The fight to save our bees has made some big steps. But Bayer and other pesticide giants aren’t taking this lying down. Now, we need to take the battle to those retailers that are still selling neonics. If we can stop the flow of cash, then we’re one step closer to protecting our bees.
Thanks for all you do,
Paul, Martin and the team at SumOfUs
 
|
No comments:
Post a Comment