Lesson Twenty-Nine: Pesticides and Fertilizers

Jul 12

Jul 12 Lesson Twenty-Nine: Pesticides and Fertilizers

CCSS+-+Blog+Post+Images.003.jpg — How its bugging out the planet

Let’s start with a question!

Instead of hitting their targets, they are contaminating soil, water, turf, birds, fish, beneficial insects (like bees), and other non-target plants.

At the end of the day, pesticides are chemicals designed to kill. When they are introduced to delicately balanced ecosystems (aka what our planet’s been working on for millions of years), they can set damage in motion that goes through the food web 👏 for 👏 years.

There are many species affected, but three are worse off than others:

Honeybees are extremely affected by pesticides which is causing populations to plummet nationwide.
Male Frogs exposed to atrazine (in herbicides) become females which impacts their population sizes.
Bats go through massive die-offs because their immune systems are dramatically weakened by pesticides and they are more vulnerable to diseases like White Nose Syndrome.

While we may not work directly in the agriculture space, it is important to be educated on this topic as it’s our aggressive demand on the food system that is causing reliance on pesticide usage.

Here is what you can do though!

Learn More: There is a great episode on Bloomberg Law’s Business of Bees Podcast that talks about the use of pesticides, specifically on how it impacts the bee population. The episode is called Of Pollinators and Pesticides (link to listen on Spotify is here).
Act: If you have an at-home-garden, stop using pesticides and try natural alternatives (the internet knows so many!)
Act: Sign a petition to ban neonicotinoids (a pesticide that is extremely harmful to bees) in agricultural settings in Canada. The petition can be found here.

Also, if you read that last bullet and have NO idea what a neonicotinoid is, that’s okay! I didn’t either before starting the research on this topic. A neonictinoid is a type of pesticide that closely resembles nicotine. It is so potent to bees that 1 teaspoon is enough to deliver a lethal dose for 1.25 billion bumble bees! Not to mention that we apply thousands of kilos to this stuff to the landscape all the time. Talk about giving bumblebees a break!

There are small steps we can take to protect the wildlife and ecosystems around us - the important part though is to get equipped with the knowledge and then act! Woo! If there are any questions you have, make sure to leave them below!