
Five years ago Sunday, Hurricane Sandy slammed into the Northeast U.S., killing dozens of people and swamping parts of New York City under as much as 9 feet of water. The storm caused more than $70 billion in damage.
Saturday, a broad coalition of local, state, national and global organizations marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy and demand bold powerful action from state and local officials.
According to 350.org:
Organizers are remembering the lives and livelihoods lost to Superstorm Sandy and demanding bold and swift climate action from New York's elected officials. Demands include actionable steps for Mayor Bill de Blasio, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senator Chuck Schumer to address unmet needs from the storm's devastation, protect communities vulnerable to inevitable future storms, and secure transformative policies to make New York a true climate leader.
A recent study predicts that catastrophic flooding in New York City, similar to destruction from Sandy, will become far more common in the coming decades.
Starting the march #sandy5 #OffFossilFuels https://t.co/4A4dx7fPmj— Alex Beauchamp (@Alex Beauchamp)1509208516.0
#sandy5 march leaving the plaza now, heading to the brooklyn bridge https://t.co/oRIfIJCySQ— NYC-EJA (@NYC-EJA)1509208524.0
RIGHT NOW: Thousands of NYers gather in Cadman Plaza for #Sandy5 yr anniversary march. Join us! We can’t wait for… https://t.co/mu5nmnjrIK— ColorOfChange.org (@ColorOfChange.org)1509202815.0
Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.
At first glance, you wouldn't think avocados and almonds could harm bees; but a closer look at how these popular crops are produced reveals their potentially detrimental effect on pollinators.
Migratory beekeeping involves trucking millions of bees across the U.S. to pollinate different crops, including avocados and almonds. Timothy Paule II / Pexels / CC0
<p>According to <a href="https://www.fromthegrapevine.com/israeli-kitchen/beekeeping-how-to-keep-bees" target="_blank">From the Grapevine</a>, American avocados also fully depend on bees' pollination to produce fruit, so farmers have turned to migratory beekeeping as well to fill the void left by wild populations.</p><p>U.S. farmers have become reliant upon the practice, but migratory beekeeping has been called exploitative and harmful to bees. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/10/health/avocado-almond-vegan-partner/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported that commercial beekeeping may injure or kill bees and that transporting them to pollinate crops appears to negatively affect their health and lifespan. Because the honeybees are forced to gather pollen and nectar from a single, monoculture crop — the one they've been brought in to pollinate — they are deprived of their normal diet, which is more diverse and nourishing as it's comprised of a variety of pollens and nectars, Scientific American reported.</p><p>Scientific American added how getting shuttled from crop to crop and field to field across the country boomerangs the bees between feast and famine, especially once the blooms they were brought in to fertilize end.</p><p>Plus, the artificial mass influx of bees guarantees spreading viruses, mites and fungi between the insects as they collide in midair and crawl over each other in their hives, Scientific American reported. According to CNN, some researchers argue that this explains why so many bees die each winter, and even why entire hives suddenly die off in a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder.</p>Avocado and almond crops depend on bees for proper pollination. FRANK MERIÑO / Pexels / CC0
<p>Salazar and other Columbian beekeepers described "scooping up piles of dead bees" year after year since the avocado and citrus booms began, according to Phys.org. Many have opted to salvage what partial colonies survive and move away from agricultural areas.</p><p>The future of pollinators and the crops they help create is uncertain. According to the United Nations, nearly half of insect pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, risk global extinction, Phys.org reported. Their decline already has cascading consequences for the economy and beyond. Roughly 1.4 billion jobs and three-quarters of all crops around the world depend on bees and other pollinators for free fertilization services worth billions of dollars, Phys.org noted. Losing wild and native bees could <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/wild-bees-crop-shortage-2646849232.html" target="_self">trigger food security issues</a>.</p><p>Salazar, the beekeeper, warned Phys.org, "The bee is a bioindicator. If bees are dying, what other insects beneficial to the environment... are dying?"</p>EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Australia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. It is home to more than 7% of all the world's plant and animal species, many of which are endemic. One such species, the Pharohylaeus lactiferus bee, was recently rediscovered after spending nearly 100 years out of sight from humans.
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