EMAIL THREAD
From: Sandra Finley
Sent: April 9, 2019
To: Senator Yvonne Boyer (‘Leggett, Rod: SEN’)
Subject: RE: Health and “Plummeting insect numbers . . .”
Thanks Rod. I’ll do that. (INSERT: I thought I would, but I didn’t.)
/Sandra
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From: Leggett, Rod: SEN
Sent: April 9, 2019 6:50 AM
To: ‘Sandra Finley’
Subject: RE: Health and “Plummeting insect numbers . . .”
Thanks for your email, Sandra.
I recommend that you send this information to the members of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry.
| Rod Leggett Parliamentary Research Assistant | Adjoint de recherche parlementaireOffice of the Honourable Yvonne Boyer | Bureau de l’honorable Yvonne Boyer Room 700 Victoria Building | Pièce 700, Édifice Victoria Senate of Canada | Sénat du Canada Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A4 |
I acknowledge and thank the Algonquin Nation for welcoming myself and others onto their territory.
Nous saluons et remercions la Nation algonquine pour nous accueillir, moi et les autres, sur son territoire.
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From: Sandra Finley
Sent: February 18, 2019
To: Boyer, Yvonne <Yvonne.Boyer AT sen.parl.gc.ca>
Subject: Health and “Plummeting insect numbers . . .”
Dear Senator Yvonne Boyer,
God! It’s good to be addressing a woman in the role of Senator! Bless you, for all your contributions to the well-being of this country.
Concerning: 2019-02-10 Plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten collapse of nature’, The Guardian
and one of the major causes named in the research – – chemical agriculture.
The article is well written. I checked the source report by the scientists. It tells me the situation is urgent.
As I see things, it is within our control to do something about it, right now. We don’t need an outside authority to give us license to take individual actions.
Three excerpts from the article:
- The analysis, published in the journal Biological Conservation, says intensive agriculture is the main driver of the declines, particularly the heavy use of pesticides.
- “The main cause of the decline is agricultural intensification,” Sánchez-Bayo said. “That means the elimination of all trees and shrubs that normally surround the fields, so there are plain, bare fields that are treated with synthetic fertilisers and pesticides.”
- The world must change the way it produces food,
It is within our control to shut down the schools that teach students it’s okay to poison the Planet. It is obviously not okay.
We have been marching toward this end for 57 years, since 1962 and the publication of “Silent Spring“.
In 57 years, political and institutional leadership has taken us BACKWARDS. I do no longer expect leadership from them.
Leadership has to come from Citizens, which is where it has been coming from anyway, for a long time.
” . . . there is a need for an intense and global effort to halt and reverse these dreadful trends.”
GOAL, a manageable one, easily within the reach of Canadians, although not without a fight because there is “money” at stake:
- Shut down the Agricultural Colleges and Programs that are a huge obstacle to stopping the Poisoning of the Planet. It is well-known that they are run by the interests of the chem-biotech transnationals, some of the most corrupt corporations in the world. Ag Colleges and Programs are TEACHING young people that it’s okay to poison the planet. Whereas it is wrong and not to be tolerated. If for no other reason: Plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten collapse of nature’
There are many good programs in bio-dynamical agriculture, permaculture, or other methods of farming that are based in a healthy relationship with the Planet and with ourselves. Provide scholarships to students; move them into those programs. Refuse funding to the charlatans.
It used to be that Universities were not allowed to hire their own graduates. I assume the rule arose because of repeated bad experience: the hiring of your own students leads to incestuous, unhealthy relationships. We need new ideas and ethics from agricultural programs in a variety of countries, including Canada. Bring an end to the demagoguery in the Agricultural Colleges and Schools of Public Policy. End the practice of hiring your own graduates will help break the chain of badly flawed inter-generational transfer of defective ideas.
REQUEST:
While I and others exercise our power and ingenuity to help arrest and reverse the evident failure of Agricultural Colleges – –
given the number of women on Senate who have been strong organizers in their communities, there is ample capacity on Senate, working with good men, to organize a contribution to the effort. The poisoning has to be stopped.
We have 57 years of stupidity and corruption, to un-do quickly.
A third of the agricultural chemicals sold in Canada are sold in Saskatchewan. The U of Sask. College of Agriculture has ranked high among agricultural schools. Not apparent by the title, this posting is about the relationship between the Administration of the University and the chem-biotech corporations:
I am stirred to action by the APPENDED input. I think that “Jan” is representative of many people – – paralyzed by the enormity of where hubris and stupidity have landed us.
I am hopeful there are Senators who will wish to put shoulder to wheel on this one, in actions that you can know – – I don’t know what you are good at, or who you know. We will all benefit and maybe survive along with the butterflies and other insects, if more people will do what they can to challenge the Agricultural Colleges.
I appended information about the effects of ag chemicals on the cognitive functioning of children. And the corruption in the PMRA, Health Canada, responsible for the regulation of the chemicals. Might be information overload, sorry.
Best wishes,
Sandra Finley
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APPENDED
COMMENT, at bottom of 2019-02-13 (r. 02-16) Dalhousie University and interim President. Dissent arises when there are conflicting interests.
jjan jonsson says:
I’m terrified. I think I’m paralized. I really don’t know what to do. Warm regards, Jan
Sandra Finley says:
We’ve done amazing things before, Jan. And we can do them again. First thing is to remember how you un-terrify yourself! Get outside for a bit, in the wild, a wooded area, or by the river, or in a park. The beauty of nature will re-fortify you. You’ll come back inside with a smile on your face, and some joy in your heart.
THEN you can work out what you want to do. ONE thing. Meet a friend for coffee. Tell them that you’re afraid, and doing an action (going for coffee) helps you get back to centre and calm. Do they mind if you bounce some ideas off them?
If you’re still living in Saskatoon, you could try something around: the AgBio Dean is Mary Buhr. She is just a regular person. (306 966 4050; mary.buhr AT usask.ca).
Maybe you could – – – ? (ask her if she’s seen the Guardian newspaper article about plummeting numbers of insects? . . .)
Sandra Finley says:
Jan – – you will feel stronger after you’ve asked Mary Buhr the question.
Then have coffee with your friend, again. Tell what you did and what happened. . . .
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APPENDED:
a known connection between the ag chemicals and cognitive functioning of children.
I and 3 others brought Dr. Elizabeth Guillette from Florida State University to Saskatchewan years ago, to address Regina City Council and a Saskatoon audience about unnecessary use of chemical sprays.
Guillette’s research on children in the Yaqui Valley in Mexico (two crops a year using chemical agriculture) is above reproach. It was prompted by local women who approached her (“something is wrong with our children, Doctor. Can you help us, we don’t know what it is?”).
Dr. Guillette and I had lots of talking time during the 3-hour drive to Saskatoon. We covered the ground on the impact of ag chemicals on cognitive functioning. Later, I came across other research that echoed what Dr. Guillette said; her research is the most powerful.
(I find it weird that people believe we can spray things like hormone disruptors on other creatures and think it won’t affect ourselves – – the poisons are ingested one way and another, they accumulate, and the same processes (cell division and then specialization of function) are at work, no matter what life form you are.)
Yesterday, CBC host Anna Maria Tremonti interviewed teachers in Ontario about rising levels of unmanageable violent behavior in some very young children. There will be numerous and complicated causes. But I always harken back to one of them: Dr. Guillette’s work. Children with impaired cognitive functioning may have a hard time figuring things out. Frustration – – lashing out in “inappropriate” ways. No – – they don’t have the options that a healthy brain can generate.
You will not want to read all this long paste-together. The material on cognitive functioning is near the bottom. 2008-04-13 Three studies link decreased cognitive functioning in children to chemical exposure
ANOTHER ASIDE: My MP, Gord Johns, relied on the information provided by the PMRA saying that the bee-killing chemical had been de-registered. I double-checked. The next link documents how the PMRA circumvents the effort to bring about an end to the bee-killer chemical. Which also kills hummingbirds, which also, of course contributes to our arrival at “plummeting insect numbers threaten . . .”.
2018-05-18 Letter to my MP: No, imidacloprid has NOT been “withdrawn” in Canada. (The neonic imidacloprid (death of bees, song birds, banned in EU)).
It is within our control to shut down the schools that teach students it’s okay to poison the Planet. It is obviously not okay.