John,

A tiny bumblebee, about the size of a fuzzy pebble, hums busily between flowering plants. She's on a mission -- to scoop up as much pollen as she can and return to her buzzing hive, where she'll contribute to feeding her whole colony.

But something strange begins to happen. She gets confused, unable to remember which way her hive is. Parts of her small body freeze up, then begin to shake uncontrollably. Before long, this hardworking pollinator is dead.1

Without realizing it, this bee entered an area treated with a toxic class of pesticides known as "neonics."

Across the country, millions of tiny pollinators are meeting the same fate as this bumblebee. So we're getting to work. Before September 30, we've set a goal of raising $30,000 to fuel our work to save the bees and protect nature. Will you donate today?

Before toxic pesticides cut across her path, this bumblebee was darting from flower to flower, pausing to nuzzle into each bright bulb in search of nectar.

And as she went, she was performing one of the most fundamental tasks in a healthy ecosystem -- pollination.

Without bees and other essential pollinators, we wouldn't have the vibrant springs we look forward to each winter. And we wouldn't be able to grow as much as a third of our food supply, including apples, strawberries, watermelon and peaches.2

A world without bees would be drearier and harder to live in, for wildlife and humans alike.

We're working to stop the spread of bee-killing pesticides and protect our pollinators. Will you help us reach our goal?

Unfortunately, this bumblebee's story is happening right now, over and over again, all across the country.

Over the past three decades, neonics have made our agricultural landscape 48 times more toxic to pollinators.3 Not only are these pesticides sprayed across vast stretches of farmland, but the vast majority of soybean, corn and cotton seeds are pre-soaked in neonics before they're even planted in the ground.4

Neonics are so ubiquitous that it can often be difficult or impossible for farmers to find seeds that haven't been coated in these neon-colored, bee-killing pesticides.5

This has to stop. We're running urgent campaigns to take bee-killing pesticides off store shelves and out of our nation's farmland before it's too late for pollinators.

These campaigns wouldn't be possible without grassroots support. Will you help us reach our $30,000 goal by September 30 and help tackle bee-killing pesticides this fall?

Thank you for being part of our work to save the bees,

Ellen Montgomery

1. Steve Blackledge, "3 ways neonic pesticides are harming bees," Environment America, April 19, 2024.
2. Ruth O'Neill, "Which Garden Vegetables and Fruits Need Insect Pollination," Montana State University, last accessed September 15, 2025.
3. Stephen Leahy, "Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides," National Geographic, August 6, 2019.
4. Steve Blackledge, "How just a single seed can kill 80,000 bees," Environment America, June 30, 2025.
5. Mark Moran, "Iowa farmers question need for treated seeds," Public News Service, April 17, 2025.

Your donation will be used to support all of our campaigns to protect the environment, from saving the bees and protecting public lands, to standing up for clean water and fighting climate change. None of our work would be possible without supporters like you. Environment Colorado may transfer up to $50 per dues-paying member per year into the Environment Colorado Small Donor Committee.