An urgent message from Carol

For those of you who have been following my work for at least the past decade, you will know that in one of the earlier OLIVE FARM books, I wrote about the class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids. I knew very little about what was going on back then, except that word was going around, concern growing, that this class of neuro-active insecticides was having a detrimental effect on honeybees, birds and various other pollinators. The chemical companies supplying these insecticides  – neonicotinoids were developed in the 1980s by Shell and then Bayer – described them as ‘low-toxicity’ and not harmful to bees. In fact, the alarming and escalating loss of bees and the damage to birdlife have become causes for serious concern over the past decade. The movement and voices against the use of neonicotinoids has grown more vociferous and active. Until on 29th April of this year, after massive protests from environmentalists, beekeepers, Greenpeace, Avaaz and many other organisations as well as lay folk everywhere, the European Union passed a two year ban against the use of these chemicals.  Hooray! But it is just the beginning. We have to keep up the fight against them, keep writing and talking about the problems and pushing the barriers of awareness ever further.