Neonicotinoid
WTF is that? This is a class of pesticide that we started using 20 years ago. It is systemic which means it will be in all parts of the plant. Leaves, stems, roots, flowers, nectar and pollen. It kills insects and grubs that feed on seeds or plants that have this pesticide applied to it. It lasts as long as 1000 days in the environment before breaking down. It is water soluble which means it moves from the place where it is applied. It means that animals that eat a lot of insects are getting neonicotinoids as well.
Silent Spring is a book describing the insecticide DDT’s devastating impact on birds. DDT did not kill birds outright. It caused egg shells to fail and bird decline took years.
It has taken 20 years to connect neonicotinoids to the previously unexplained decline of bees. Why? Because the pesticide did not outright kill the bee. Bees consume nectar and pollen. The small amounts would change behaviors and kill them over long periods of time.
There is a blindness that we have that is similar to a short attention span. If we can’t see something happening right before our eyes, it didn’t happen or is considered impossible. Or we fail to make the connection between cause and effect. What else are we missing? What is killing people that we think is harmless or can in no way be connected? Is it something that kills us slowly or changes our behaviors? Is there something that we do or consume that takes a long time to kill?
Call me paranoid. But probably many things fall in this category. Most likely they are man made. We just don’t see it or have failed to make the connection. Future generations will look back and wish we were less reckless, short sighted and destructive to the planet’s plants and animals.