Nine thousand Mainers act to save the bees

Help may be on the way for the pollinators that bring life to Maine gardens and food to our tables.

Environment Maine staff on Aug. 5 met with Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Commissioner Amanda Beal to deliver nearly 9,000 petition signatures calling for a moratorium on bee-killing pesticides. Across the country, millions of bees are dying off. Neonicotinoid insecticides, known as neonics, are a primary culprit. We know Gov. Janet Mills is sympathetic: She had two bee hives installed at the governor’s residence in May.

“We must not stand any longer for the use of these pesticides, so carelessly used despite their direct impact on our bees,” Environment Maine canvasser Elijah Munro-Ludders wrote in a letter to the editor of the Press Herald.

Our canvassers spent the summer educating Mainers on the vital role that bees play in our ecosystem, the dangers they face, and how we can save them.

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Photo: Environment Maine staff at the state house after delivering 9,000 petition signatures from Mainers calling to save the bees. Credit: Staff.