Tom's Corner

Finally the bird people weigh in on pesticides and bird decline, even the editorial page of the New York Times which published Toxic Threats to Grassland Birds on Monday. Their conclusion “that, in fact, pesticides were four times more likely to be linked with bird losses than any other cause.” is in line with what beekeepers have been saying for a long time. Although this is a significant step forward in the recognition of the depth of the problem, there still is a failure to fully grasp the enormity of the environmental damage being caused that can be traced to the neonicotinoids.

From Graham White in the UK:

Sybilla Keitel is a German artist who created this wonderful parody of a very famous German painting called “A Sunday Afternoon Walk in the Country” by Carl Spitzweg.

Parody of “A Sunday Afternoon Walk in the Country” by Sybilia Keitel

This was made into a very large banner for the demonstration that was held in Berlin a few weeks ago – and it was very, very effective at putting the message across.

Sybilla Keitel, the artist, with her banner at a political demonstration in Berlin, February 2013

Science is doing its best, but for every honest, independent scientist that we produce, Bayer and Syngenta produce two ‘tame’ scientists who simply dismiss everything we say.

It is time to get the artists involved: writers, painters, graphic designers, photographers, playwrights, musicians, actors. We need another hundred pictures like this from every country in the world – to put across the truth of what is going on.

Please have a think about this and pass this to any of your friends who are artists.

– Graham White

Der Sonntagsspaziergang by Carl Spitzweg, oil on panel, 1841

On Wednesday, February 27 June Stoyer and I will interview Dr. Susan Kegley, principal and founder of the Pesticide Research Institute, on Sulfoxaflor, another systemic pesticide the EPA is proposing to release under a conditional registration with many serious questions unaswered. The program will air live at 10:00 A.M. Colorado time.

Dr Henk Tennekes joins June Stoyer and Tom Theobald to discuss his latest research, “Impact of Systemic Insecticides on Organisms and Ecosystems.”