Teresa Jade LeYung's BLOG

Posts Tagged ‘1 in 8 Americans go hungry’

Every day I am reminded of the power of literacy.  This week, a colleague (thanks, Kate) through Women’s National Book Association emailed me about something I knew little about.  She asked me to sign an online petition, but, before I proceeded, I asked a dear friend (thanks, Sue), a wizard at researching and summarizing key points, what she  knew about the subject.

What is the problem? Billions of bees are being killed off across the country, threatening our crops and food.

The villain? The use of neonicotinoid pesticides.

This is how I took action and exercised the power of literacy:

I could have signed a petition at:

www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees_usa/96.php

but I chose to write to EPA via:

http://publicaccess.supportportal.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=23012

Dear EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson:

I am asking that use of neonicotinoid pesticide be outlawed until the registration review is completed. Michael Pollan points out that 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat are dependent on bee pollination.  If 1 in 8 Americans already go hungry, why are we killing off pollinators?

Thank you for taking my comment and vote to outlaw neonicotinoid pesticides.

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

Me, a manuscript consultant and writing-career coach, writing to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and asking my fellow writers to exercise their power of literacy? Oh yes!