Stop the mass extinction of bees and climate change

To The Daily Sun,

Oki, hello, my name is Fawn Gaudet and I am a proud descendant of the Blackfeet Nation. My upbringing, like many of you, allows me to be keenly aware of the sacred circle of life. Right now this circle is broken and it affects our planet, ecosystem, food system, biodiversity, humanity, all species and Mother Earth. We live in a time of dangerous change and it is time to join together and save our one planet.

Right now we are in the sixth mass extinction. It sounds overwhelming, but it is the truth.

The New York Times reported Nov. 27, 2018, on “The Insect Apocalypse.” It’s part of the current worldwide loss, known as the sixth extinction, which is the sixth time in the earth’s history that large numbers of species disappear in an unusually rapid succession. Matt McGrath, an environmental correspondent, shares in “Climate change: 12 years to save the planet? Make that 18 months.” I believe Mr. McGrath was sharing that we have this amount of time to take the steps we need to fix things.

Please take a moment to digest this. This time the extinctions are not caused by asteroids, they are caused by humans. (Brook Jarvis, Insect Apocalypse). Insects and especially pollinators, native and non-native, are in danger. They are crucial to our survival! Pollinators support one in three bites of food we eat each day. We need these amazing pollinators to support and sustain our food system.

Alarmingly, the U.S. government is developing drone technology to pollinate crops. (NPR, Rise of Robotic Bees: Tiny Drones into Artificial Pollinators - March 3, 2017). In Dave Goulson’s article: Decline of Bees forces China’s apple farmers to pollinate by hand - Feb. 10, 2012, he shared that some orchards are being hand-pollinated. To my knowledge, this is still happening. This is a crisis and the fact that humans need to do this is an alert to humanity and Mother Earth. In our country, the EPA has just approved use of more harmful pesticides to bees, therefore, negatively impacting bees. While in Europe, a fourth neonic is being banned.

Sadly, in New Hampshire, the rusty patched bumble bee is believed to be locally extinct. New Hampshire is working to pass legislation (HB646-FN: “The Saving New Hampshire’s Pollinators Act”). Members of NH Save Our Pollinators Coalition and Non Toxic NH have collected over 2,500 signatures in support of the bill. It recently passed the House Environment and Agriculture subcommittee. This was a first victory and now it moves to the executive session to be voted on Nov. 7 at 10 a.m. in Legislative Lobby Room 303 in Concord. Please attend and support the bill by wearing yellow and sharing your posters. This bill is championed by State Rep. Catherine Sofitikis (D-Nashua). We hope the bill passes this step and moves forward. Let's save our native and non-native pollinators, ourselves, and Mother Earth.

Fawn Gaudet

Rumney