#Insects are essential to life on earth, with roles in #pollination, #decomposition, pest control, among others. Insects are declining globally. #Bees are dying in droves in North America, Europe and #Brazil (in Portuguese), mostly as a result of the use of #pesticides and habitat loss. Natural pest control and organic food production should be the norm not the exception. Help conserve insect #diversity. Campaign for organic foods and if you have a garden, keep plenty of native flowering plants in at least part of it. Even the grass flowers in my garden (photo) are visited by lots of different pollinators.

Originally published on DiasporaBR.

Update: I just saw today that Friends of the Earth recently reported levels of pesticides often above maximum permitted limits in the majority of samples of groceries in U.S. stores. See full report here (pdf). For example, glyphosate (main ingredient in the herbicide Roundup first produced by Montsanto, now acquired by Bayer) was found in 100% of oat cereal samples. Glyphosate is used to dessicate the plants in order to anticipate harvesting, otherwise a wait of a couple of weeks is needed for the plants to dry naturally. Thus, this unintended use of a herbicide saves the producer money at the expense of our health. Write to your favourite brands and ask for clarification on the use of pesticides in their products.