Response to Health Canada’s Proposed Registration Decision for the systemic pesticide flupyradifurone (PRD2014-20)
Posted on November 1, 2014Publication Date:
October 30, 2014
Canada about to license another bee-killing pesticide
Posted on October 30, 2014MEDIA RELEASE, October 30, 2014
OTTAWA – Environmental organizations are calling on Health Canada to stop approving systemic pesticides that are toxic to bees and threaten to interfere with ecosystem functioning. The most widely used group of systemic pesticides, neonicotinoids, has come under increased scrutiny as a contributing factor in large-scale bee die-offs and other harmful effects. Now Health Canada is proposing to approve a new systemic pesticide, flupyradifurone. According to the government assessment, flupyradifurone may pose a risk to bees, non-target beneficial arthropods, and freshwater and saltwater invertebrates when used for foliar application. Flupyradifurone may pose a risk to birds and small wild mammals when used for soybean seed treatment.
This is where we are and what we have to do
John Bennett — October 24, 2014Friends:
Below is the blog I was working on Wednesday while our building in Ottawa was in lockdown. It would not have been possible without the sacrifice and courage demonstrated in front of the War Memorial and in the halls of Parliament. I speak on behalf of the entire Sierra Club Canada community in expressing our gratitude, our sorrow and our hope this never happens again.
Sincerely,
John Bennett, National Program Director
Sierra Club Canada Foundation
This is where we are and what we have to do
Next week I'll be attending the 25th anniversary meeting of the Climate Action Network Canada -- an organization I led from 1998 to 2007. I had no idea I’d end up with the job when Kai Millyard called me about forming the network back in 1989.
Credit River Trail from Mississauga to Caledon -- it is possible!
Posted on October 24, 2014
At our next Sierra Peel Group meeting guest speaker Susan Robertson of The Credit Valley Heritage Society will tell us about the proposal for a continuous trail along the Credit River from Mississauga to Caledon. There are some beautiful lengths of trail along the Credit and many people are working to connect them. According to Credit Valley Conservation, "Trails in the Credit Valley Watershed cover a wide variety of geographical features, including the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Niagara Escarpment, providing picturesque settings for a leisurely stroll or a challenging, rugged hike." The CVC website has a great page organizing maps of the trails and what to expect on them: http://www.creditvalleyca.ca/enjoy-the-outdoors/activities/trails/. Come learn more about the plans to make these trails contiguous, more accessible and enjoyable for all.
Sierra Club Works to Save Irish Grove Forest
Posted on October 24, 2014
By Dr. John Bacher
A new threat to the environment and the future of the Greenbelt on the eve of its 2015 Review has emerged in Niagara. It is a proposal to extend through the Greenbelt in Grimsby, a Niagara Regional Road, Livingston Avenue (Niagara Regional Road, 512) in the middle of the old growth Irish Grove Forest.
The Irish Grove Forest is a 26 acre forest which has never been farmed. It contains huge Red and White Oaks that have been estimated by experts to be 450 years old. It also contains towering super-story White Pines of a hundred to 150 years in age. Most of the trees in this climax Carolinian forest are climax mature Sugar Maples and Shagbark Hickories which are regenerating well.
Petition for a National Climate Change Youth Employment Program
Ontario must ban neonic pesticides in light of new study
Posted on October 21, 2014U.S. EPA says bee killing pesticides provide no benefit
MEDIA RELEASE
October 21, 2014
OTTAWA – Sierra Club Canada Foundation is calling on Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal to immediately ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides on soybeans in light of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study that concludes the bee killing pesticides provide little or no benefit to soybean growers.
Hey Sierra, I've got a little song for you!
John Bennett — October 17, 2014Listen! Can you hear it? That's a 300 year old oak tree singing in your ear!
It's true. The song is called the 'Ballad of the 300 Year Old Oak Tree ' and it's been created for you and me and every Sierra Club of Canada Foundation supporter.
You can buy it for 99¢ from iTunes and we will receive the royalties!
Support First Nations, not corporate oil interests
Posted on October 13, 2014No more license extensions for corridor resources
MEDIA RELEASE
October 14, 2014
K’JIPUKTUK (Halifax NS) - Save Our Seas and Shores Coalition is calling on the Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) to stop issuing license extensions (free or otherwise) to Corridor Resources for EL-1105 at Old Harry in the Gulf of St Lawrence.
Following up on the announcement made by the Innu, Maliseet and Mi’gmaq Alliance in Halifax last July, wherein First Nations called for a 12-year moratorium on offshore oil and gas development in the Gulf of St Lawrence, representatives from SOSS-NS, NB, PEI, QC and NL are meeting in Halifax this week to announce their support for the Alliance’s demand.
Bee-ware: Bayer is back with a new neonic
John Bennett — October 10, 2014
Flupyradifurone is a new neonicotinoid pesticide from Bayer. That’s right, another one!
Here is what Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has to say about it:
“Flupyradifurone may pose a risk to bees, non-target beneficial arthropods, and freshwater and saltwater invertebrates when used for foliar application. Flupyradifurone may pose a risk to birds and small wild mammals when used for soybean seed treatment.”
Flupyradifurone can enter the environment through a number of different insecticide applications covering a large number of ‘pests’ in a variety of crops. It can also enter groundwater and the aquatic environment through surface run-off.