It is a beautiful spring. There are flowers all around my home. However, there is an eerie silence, there are no Bees. Where they have previously covered my rhododendrons, there are none. This is a catastrophe. The loss of one of our most valuable pollinators is a clear sign that global climate change, pollution and destruction of habitats are combining to accelerate the damage to our planet. Extensive use of pesticides especially neonicotinoid pesticides are deadly to bees and honey has been found to contain many of these chemicals. Today species extinction is astronomically higher than the normal background extinction rate. Climate change is real and damage is already costing trillions of dollars. If you are concerned about immigration, climate change and rising seas will displace hundreds of millions of people. There is an overwhelming agreement among scientists that this is caused by our actions.

As we come out of this pandemic and resume our normal lives, I wonder what normal will be. This is not a political, right or left issue. This is a matter of survival. Action must be taken now. The scientists who made the Covid vaccine possible in a record time with phenomenal efficacy, can and will do just as good at climate change, given funding and support. If you do not think it will affect you, then think of your children, grandchildren and others you cherish and love. We can do this and must. This is who we are.