Save our Bees petition hand-in

On Monday some of the 38 Degrees office team delivered our ‘Save Our Bees’ petition to Owen Paterson the Environment Secretary at the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Over 75,000 38 Degrees members have signed the petition demanding the government protect our bees.

Our bees are in danger, three species of bees are already extinct and others are in rapid decline. Strong evidence points to particular pesticides being to blame for killing them and DEFRA had been running a consultation into the use of these pesticides.  France and several other European countries have already started banning these pesticides, but the UK government is yet to be convinced.

The 38 Degrees petition called on the government to immediately halt the use of the nerve-agent pesticides, which are being blamed across the world for the sharp decline in bee numbers.  Within a couple of days of setting it up it had gained thousands of names wanting to protect our bees.

Backed up by the signatures of tens of thousands of 38 degrees members, some of the 38 Degrees office team headed down to hand in the petition to the consultation. Along with the petition we handed in a big basket of fruit and veg all pollinated by bees as a reminder of quite how important to our lives the bees are.

Let’s keep an eye on how the consultation reports back and keep up the pressure on our government to protect our bees.