An article on page three of today’s Los Angeles Times talked about declining monarch butterfly numbers in Mexico where it winters. But here is an important takeaway that was buried a bit in the article: the use of genetically modified crops (GMOs) in the midwest where the monarch breeds contains Roundup (glyphosphate) that is killing the monarch’s vial food source — the milkweed plant . [Read more...]
Our Vital Pollinators: Birds, Bats, Bees and Butterflies
February 23, 2013 by · 2 Comments
Pollinators – birds, bats, bees and butterflies – are critical. They pollinate over 200,000 of the world’s flowering plants, including 80% of our food plants. The genetic material they transfer allows seeds to form, which continue the species.
Kurt Leushner, a popular professor at the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, highlighted our local pollinators at a recent horticulture meeting.
Below are some of his highlights [Read more...]
Nature’s Take: Yes on Prop 37
November 5, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
I’ve been following the campaign dollars and the newspaper endorsements surrounding Proposition 37 –where a yes vote would approve the genetically engineered foods labeling initiative.
Polls conducted two months ago showed 2/3 voters supporting it. Now, after a huge ad blitz against the initiative – according to a Reuters article today, $46 million have spent – it’s expected to fail. [Read more...]
Butterflies (So CA focus) and How to Attract Them
July 15, 2012 by · 2 Comments
It’s a rare person who doesn’t get excited when a butterfly flits by. Lately we’ve had a lot of Western Tiger Swallowtails flying around our property, which makes sense because we have the host plant – sycamore — that it needs to lay its eggs and for its caterpillar stage. Plus we have plenty of buckwheat and yarrow all summer long that provide nectar for local butterflies.
Today I attended a talk “Butterflies of the Los Angeles Basin” [Read more...]
