Bee Swarm: Four million Americans demand President Obama save bees from toxic pesticides
Beekeepers, farmers and kids will swarm White House Wednesday to demand president save bees
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bee-lovers, beekeepers, farmers, and businesses representatives will swarm the White House on Wednesday to deliver petition signatures from over four million Americans, urging President Obama protect bees from neonicotinoid pesticides. Petitioners will perform a “Ballet for the Bees,” stakeholders will speak and there will be babies and parents in bee costumes.
In the next few weeks, the White House Task Force on Pollinator Health is expected to release a plan for bee protection. This plan is part of the Presidential Memorandum, issued by President Obama in June 2014, which called for a federal strategy to protect pollinators and called on the EPA to assess the effect of pesticides, including neonicotinoids, on bees and other pollinators within 180 days. The task force’s recommendations on concrete actions to address pesticide use remain unknown.
This rally will follow a sign on letter released Monday that calls on President Obama and the task force to take action on bee-killing pesticides. Over 125 organizations signed the letter, including environmental, faith, investor, farmer and beekeeper organizations. This coalition recently placed advertisements in key Washington area metro stations calling for “President Obama to protect bees from toxic pesticides before it’s too late.”
What: A rally to demand President Obama save bees from toxic pesticides.
Where: Outside the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, in front of Lafayette Square
When: 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Who: Moms, babies, beekeepers, farmers, business leaders and bee lovers from Friends of the Earth, Central Maryland Beekeepers Association, Green America Business Network, American Sustainable Business Council, Pesticide Action Network, Organic Consumers Association, Center for Food Safety, Beyond Pesticides, Center for Biological Diversity, Environment America, Green America, Earth Justice and Food and Water Watch.
Speakers include: Roger Williams, President of Central Maryland Beekeepers Association; Fran Teplitz, Executive Co-Director, Green America Business Network; Bryan McGannon, Policy Director of American Sustainable Business Council; and Jay Feldman, Executive Director of Beyond Pesticides.
Visuals will include a short “Ballet of the Bees.” This skit will portray the current actions of the Obama administration and our vision for the future once the administration accepts four million petition signatures from constituents supporting bees. Other visuals include boxes of petition signatures, signs and moms and babies donned in bee costumes.
For information, contact Tiffany Finck-Haynes, food futures campaigner for Friends of the Earth at (202) 222-0715 or [email protected].
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Expert contact: Tiffany Finck-Haynes, (202) 222-0715, [email protected]
Communications contact: Kate Colwell, (202) 222-0744, [email protected]