EcoWatch will never, under any circumstances, sell, trade or make public your personal information, unless you designate otherwise. All personal information you provide will remain confidential. You will always have the option to edit the information provided to us or to have your personal information removed from our records.
Email Newsletters
After subscribing to EcoWatch's email list, users will receive email newsletters and other occasional announcements from EcoWatch and our partners. Users can unsubscribe from email newsletters at any time.
Traffic Data
When you visit EcoWatch, our systems collect basic information about your computer, including: IP address (your computer’s unique signature), operating system (e.g., Windows 95), browser software (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape), Internet Service Provider (e.g., AOL). We also collect information about what you view on the site. This information helps provide information about our readership and allows us to better understand the EcoWatch community.
Advertising
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use aggregated information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to this and other Websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.
Use of Cookies
EcoWatch employs cookies, which are small text files placed on your computer’s hard drive. We use cookies to count the number of visitors to our website; the cookie enables us to distinguish repeat visitors from new visitors. Persistent cookies can be removed by following your browser help file directions. If visitors decline cookies, some portions of our site that depend on cookies may be inaccessible or slower to access. Cookies also help us diagnose problems with our server.
Discussion Forum
EcoWatch uses the comment platform Disqus. Any information disclosed in these areas becomes publicly available, and therefore you should exercise caution when disclosing personal information.
Survey
EcoWatch will conduct voluntary surveys of site visitors to obtain demographic information about its readers. This information may be compiled and shared with third parties, but no personal details will be traceable or associated with specific readers.
Petitions
EcoWatch hosts two kinds of petitions: petitions run by EcoWatch lobbying government organizations and/or corporations to improve environmental standards and paid petitions sponsored by third parties, typically nonprofits.
For EcoWatch sponsored and 3rd party petitions, the target of the petition and EcoWatch will receive the information provided by the signer.
On petitions that run on EcoWatch, there is a checkbox below the personal information to opt into various newsletters and memberships including from our sponsors. Sponsors will only receive personal information provided if the user leaves the box opted-in. EcoWatch reserves the right to subscribe all signers who opt in to any offer on a petition to its daily newsletter. If a user does not wish to receive such communications and offers, they can uncheck the box on the petition, or unsubscribe from any newsletter or membership at anytime.
Links to Other Sites
EcoWatch contains links to other sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.
Children’s Guidelines
Protecting the rights of children is important to us. As a result, we do not collect or maintain any information from individuals we know to be under 13 years old, and no part of EcoWatch is intended to attract anyone under 13.
Other Disclosure of Personal Information
EcoWatch will not use or disclose your personal information without your consent, except (i) as described in this privacy policy or (ii) as required by law, court order or as requested by other government or law enforcement authority. This policy does not protect information you post in comments or other public forum within our website.
Contacting EcoWatch
If you have any questions or concerns regarding these policies, you may send an email to EcoWatch via this online form. All requests will be formally reviewed by our staff and will be answered within 48 hours.
EcoWatch
46 E. 70th St
New York, NY 10021
EcoWatch reserves the right to amend this Privacy Statement at any time without notice, and only the current Privacy Statement may be deemed effective.
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.
Trending
Scientists have newly photographed three species of shark that can glow in the dark, according to a study published in Frontiers in Marine Science last month.
- 10 Little-Known Shark Facts - EcoWatch ›
- 4 New Walking Shark Species Discovered - EcoWatch ›
- 5 Incredible Species That Glow in the Dark - EcoWatch ›
FedEx's entire parcel pickup and delivery fleet will become 100 percent electric by 2040, according to a statement released Wednesday. The ambitious plan includes checkpoints, such as aiming for 50 percent electric vehicles by 2025.
Lockdown measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic had the added benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by around seven percent, or 2.6 billion metric tons, in 2020.
- Which Is Worse for the Planet: Beef or Cars? - EcoWatch ›
- Greenhouse Gas Levels Hit Record High Despite Lockdowns, UN ... ›
- 1.8 Billion Tons More Greenhouse Gases Will Be Released, Thanks ... ›