I composed a thing for an online political petition.

[slightly edited to obscure recipients' identities and better fit the blog format]

To whom it may concern:

Should you allow the use of neonicotinoid chemicals to continue, I would have to wonder if, somewhere in the last seventy years or so, some ignorant young white boys got stung by brave and innocent honey bees that they provoked, and thereafter vowed as a clan that they would exact their revenge and then some on this species that caused them a temporary physical inconvenience. Then, of course, being the ones with all the money that they made up, they dragged everyone else with them in their rush to interspecies war. The bees stung us; what would they do next? Take on a human form and kill and replace our wives?*

I'm not much interested in picking petty fights with helpless species. Nor am I much interested in "pure" suburban lawns and sidewalks. Frankly, I find these latter rather repulsive. And I certainly don't have much use for "frankenfoods" when perfectly natural fruits and vegetables do the trick just fine. I quite enjoy a good, fresh, juicy peach or nectarine. But someone has to pollinate those plants to keep them around. Who's it gonna be? Us?

I suppose it could be us, in an indirect way. Prevent the deaths of the pollinators by banning neonicotinoid pesticides and similarly harmful chemicals. Otherwise, soon, the phrase "the birds and the bees" will become completely meaningless — perhaps in more ways than one.

Natural food for thought.

Cheshire Adams
United States of America



*Perhaps they too saw that episode of the original Outer Limits. IMDB/Hulu kindly hosts "ZZZZZ" for our education, although I wonder about the scientific accuracy of the "murder" scene.