This year, 2019, I saw the first honeybees that I’ve seen in more than 3 years in Virginia Beach. I attribute this to all of the wildflowers that I’ve grown this summer (most from seed). Each morning I go out to my garden to water and watch the honeybees, bumblebees, dragonflies, and hummingbirds enjoying their nectar and collecting their pollen.

It was late Friday night (July 26th), that I heard the rumble of the mosquito poison spraying truck. They came up and down our streets a couple of times, fogging the whole neighborhood with their chemicals.

When it comes to pesticides and insecticides, I’ve always felt that, if it’s harmful to another living thing, then it can’t be good for us.  Well, as it turns out, the spray used contains a chemical called permethrin.  Permethrin not only kills mosquitoes, but apparently kills all other insects too, including bees.

I don’t like mosquitoes either, but I’d rather be bitten by a few mosquitoes every day than to cause harm to our already fragile ecosystem.

I started a petition to ban the use of permethrin in Virginia Beach in late July 2019.  After a very successful couple of weeks, and as I learned more about permethrin, I decided to reach out to all Virginians and have it banned across the state.

Furthermore, I have decided to create a non-profit organization to deal with this and other environmental issues.  We will be called 4ag.org, and I will file the necessary paperwork for non-profit status in January 2020.

Watch for updates here and on our website, https://treehuggerslife.com/