There wouldn’t be much of a Medicinal Herb Garden without pollinators and the pollinators are resting easy because many of you and thousands of other citizens of Seattle signed a petition urging the Seattle City Council to enact a municipal ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides by the City of Seattle and on land managed by the City of Seattle. Thank you; the resolution to enact a ban on neonicotinoids passed unanimously. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Here’s the public statement on the petition site:
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Seattle Municipal Ban on Neonicotinoids!
by Central Co-op and Seattle Sierra Club
One For The Bees!
On Monday September 22, the Seattle City Council, with Mayor Ed Murray concurring, voted unanimously for our resolution to enact a municipal ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides by the City of Seattle, and on land managed by the City of Seattle.
The resolution also calls for a national moratorium on neonics; calls on the White House Task Force on Pollinator Health to take action; on the EPA to suspend registration of this class of pesticides; on the US Congress to pass the Save America’s Pollinators Act; and on retailers in Seattle to not sell neonics.
Seattle becomes the largest city to take such a stand. This victory is a small step in the growing worldwide movement for pollinators, which are important for agricultural production, and for ecosystem health. Huge thanks to the over 4300 people who signed our petition, and to the 24 organizations who signed on to the resolution!
Thanks to the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the NW Center for Alternatives to Pesticides, and the WA Sustainable Food and Farming Network, who helped educate us to greatly improve the final resolution that was adopted, and who each wrote letters of support to the City Council.
And thanks to the UW Medicinal Herb Garden, the Seattle Tilth Association, and PCC Natural Markets, whose early support and outreach helped bring this effort to public attention and build momentum for success.
Keep up the great work everyone, and look for further steps to build on this and make Seattle the Bee Friendliest city in the USA!
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Rosa gallica (French rose) section B
Pycnanthemum pilosum (mountain mint)
section B
Verbesina alternifolia (yellow ironweed, wingstem) section E
the pollinators
buzz of guardian angels
hovering nearby
See you in the garden.