Pollinators are critical to a healthy food system.
Unfortunately, the numbers of honey bees, wild bees, birds, bats, and butterflies have all been declining in the past few years. More in more science is coming out linking this decline to pesticides.
According to Larissa Walker, Pollinator Program Director at the Center for Food Safety, one of the most dangerous chemical families to these pollinators are neonicotinoids, which are 10,000 times more toxic to bees than DDT.
How can we stop the use of these dangerous chemicals?
Walker says we definitely need a paradigm shift; we need to re-think the way we grow food and shift to more sustainable forms of agriculture.
Other countries are taking action. The European Union (EU) imposed a two-year moratorium on the most severe neonicotinoids. The Center for Food Safety is aiming to spur change in the United States.
Listen in as Walker joins Clean Food Network host, Lisa Davis, to share the importance of keeping our pollinators safe.
Selected Podcast
Pollinators & Pesticides: Impact on Future Food Supply
Featured Speaker:
Larissa Walker is the Pollinator Program Director for Center for Food Safety. In her role, she integrates national grassroots campaigns with hard-hitting scientific and legal expertise, working with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and regulators at key government agencies to affect positive policy change. Larissa spearheads CFS’s pollinators program, which focuses on protecting bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects from the harms of pesticides. She regularly serves as a spokesperson for pollinator and agriculture issues, and has been interviewed and quoted by a variety of print and broadcast media outlets, including the New York Times, NPR, Politico, Bloomberg, and the Huffington Post.
Larissa Walker, Pollinator Program Director at the Center for Food Safety
Larissa Walker is the Pollinator Program Director for Center for Food Safety. In her role, she integrates national grassroots campaigns with hard-hitting scientific and legal expertise, working with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and regulators at key government agencies to affect positive policy change. Larissa spearheads CFS’s pollinators program, which focuses on protecting bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects from the harms of pesticides. She regularly serves as a spokesperson for pollinator and agriculture issues, and has been interviewed and quoted by a variety of print and broadcast media outlets, including the New York Times, NPR, Politico, Bloomberg, and the Huffington Post.