It was hugely, bitterly ironic that last week was National Pollinator Week in the USA; the same week in which thousands of bees were killed when public trees in an Oregon community were sprayed with a pesticide deadly to bees. Others were saved by quick action from the community and from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and the catastrophe has generated a lot of awareness and dialogue about what we can all do to protect and enhance our pollinators--not just the cute butterflies and hummingbirds, but the bees, flies, beetles and others that do yeoman's service in pollinating plants that we all eat.
