Editor:

I was dismayed this beautiful spring morning to open the North Coast Journal (which I read cover to cover every week) to see a local hardware store flyer offering a toxic smorgasbord of gardening chemicals, just when our local bees and pollinators are emerging in all their spring glory! Weed and bug killers, soil amendments with hidden toxins, fertilizers, etc., all laced with chemicals known to kill or harm pollinators!

Most of our fruits and vegetables depend on bees and other pollinators to thrive and produce.

Bees are dying by the millions (half of all honeybees died last year). Until big agribusiness is forced to reform, we, as backyard gardeners, are the last hope for bee and pollinator survival. Lots of plants at our local nurseries are pre-sprayed with insecticides (why do you think they look so perfect?) so please ask your retailer before you buy. Are they bee-friendly? Do they contain harmful neonicotinoids?

If bees are allowed to flourish in your garden, your flowers, fruits, and vegetables will grow strong and bountiful! Not to mention you will also reduce your own exposure to cancer causing chemicals! The inert ingredients in the top selling weed killer contain substances that are known human endocrine disrupters and damage DNA.

There are lots of safe alternatives available, just Google them!

What if Eureka became the first bee-friendly city on the North Coast?

Lorna Brown, Eureka