21 January 2024
(Image by Nel Botha from Pixabay)
John, from our Slough branch, has sent the following letter to local papers:
"How many bees did you see this year, buzzing around happily, gathering honey and pollinating the crops? Not a lot, I suspect. More than last year and the year before? Unlikely.
The government has just announced, for the fourth year running, that farmers can go on using a deadly pesticide that will kill yet more bees. One teaspoonful can kill 1 ¼ billion bees, as well as other beautiful and beneficial insects. It survives in the soil and any flowers growing there later will kill insects that visit them. Europe banished this pesticide (thiamethoxam) 6 years ago. Scientists and many businesses have pleaded with the government to do the same but their words fall on deaf ears. Largely due to government policy a third of our bees have vanished in the last 10 years.
Sadly, this is just part of a war on the natural world which is even threatening human well-being. While Europe strengthens environmental protection, Britain is doing the reverse. We have become all too aware lately of the poor state of our waterways and the effects of dirty air on human health. Britain is falling way behind Europe in many ways, such as ignoring air pollution, failing to control imports that depend on deforestation or other environmental damage for their production, poor levels of recycling items such as batteries and electrical waste, maintaining intense, polluting farming and continuing to produce chemicals that damage human reproduction and health.
These failures, as well as damaging the environment and human well-being, will affect our ability to trade with countries that have stricter regulations - hence the concerns of many businesses about current policy trends. “Taking back control” has become absence of control where it is sorely needed for the good of all.
Will a change of government help? One would hope that concern for the common good will lead to urgent action, but is the will strong enough? Even if that is the case, the task of cleaning up the damage is formidable. Restoring the bee population is just one task among many challenges that need to be addressed for our common good. Can we have a clear commitment from our likely future government to make this a high priority, please."
