I’m not a big fan of action films, but I find some of them worth watching. I recently watched such a film, “The Beekeeper,” starring English actor Jason Statham. (Hint: TV-viewing is better for almost any film but especially for action films because you can fast-forward through the most harrowing scenes.) Statham is well known for playing tough characters who don’t shy away from violent behavior if it will benefit good people.
In this film, Statham portrays Adam Clay, a retired government assassin who has changed course and lives a quiet life taking care of his beehives on property owned by kindly Eloise Parker. Parker falls for a phishing scam that wipes out her savings, leading her to commit suicide. When Clay finds her body, he’s enraged and sets out to seek revenge against those who have caused her death. The complicated plot involves a group called “The Beekeepers,” but I’ll stop here, adding only that I liked the way the film ended.
One endearing feature of this story is Clay’s devotion to his bees. That kind of devotion leads to a much more serious (and appropriate) story for today, Earth Day: The threat to our country’s bees. I recently read a scary update from one of the environmentally-concerned entities I support, Earthjustice.
Earthjustice is concerned with many threats to the earth’s environment, including the human-made biodiversity crisis that is causing the “die-off” of a number of species. One of the most critical is the current threat to honey bees, who pollinate our “superfoods,” foods that are rich in vitamins and nutrients. Earthjustice warns that without these pollinators, “our nation would lose one-third of its crops as well as our food security.” But extensive use of pesticides in industrial agriculture has led to massive die-offs of honey bees. We simply can’t afford to lose them.
Earthjustice, whose slogan is “because the earth needs a good lawyer,” believes that the law is the most powerful tool we have to protect our natural world. In the case of honey bees, its lawyers are fighting the key drivers of this crisis. Notably, they recently won a victory in California that prohibits the use of an insecticide, sulfoxaflor. This victory should help to protect bees across the country.
Earthjustice plans to continue to protect the diversity of plant and animal life on which we all depend. Let’s support its efforts and those by other hard-working groups committed to preserving our planet, especially the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).
We can begin by fighting to save our honey bees!
susanjustwrites
Susan Just Writes 