The Austin City Council poassed on consent, an update to the integrated pest management plan. The update, sponsored by Councilwoman Alison Altar, bans the use of a certain pesticide, called neonicotinoids, which have been linked to bee deaths.
According to data compliled by Alter, the global population of bee colonies shrinks by 30-40{91a3a066265893d5d93b921204e5bbe4720deb431f82cc483a406ec22b140854} each and every year, but bees pollinate much of the food we depend on like apples, broccoli, coffee beans, and even chocolate. Further, bees pollinate one of the main foods that cows eat, alfalfa, which means we could struggle to produce meat and dairy products as well.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in a world without coffee and chocolate,” says Bay Scoggin, TexPIRG State Director. “Bees are an important part of our food supply and ecosystem, and we need to protect them with common sense solutions like this one.”
The update to the pest management plan also limits the use of glyphosate and chlorpyrifos on city lands, to chemicals linked to harmful health effects in humans.
