This is how we crashed the Bayer party
- Details
- Published on Thursday, 02 June 2016 08:30
- Written by editor
A,
Last time we checked in with you we were about to show up on Bayer’s doorstep. We’ve been fighting hard to protect the bees and want to tell you how it went.
We prepared a special surprise for Bayer shareholders at this year’s AGM. Shareholders were looking forward to hearing all about the fat profits the company made this year, thanks in part due to their flourishing business with bee-killing pesticides.
Instead what they got was us: we made sure to greet every single shareholder outside the AGM in bee costumes, bee-keepers uniforms, and a big mountain of actual dead bees.
We also presented an official shareholder counter-motion directly challenging Bayer’s risky investments in bee-killing pesticides.
There was no way they could escape our message: Bayer’s profits come with a hefty price tag -- the massive global die-off of our bees.
The news of our action went around the world, with headlines in the US, South Africa, India and France.
Check out our fearsome gang of beekeepers and SumOfUs activists in bee costumes outside the entrance of the Bayer AGM:
And none of it wouldn’t have been possible without you.
Thousands of SumOfUs members donated so that we could make sure that those most affected by the massive death of bees -- the beekeepers -- could travel to Bayer’s AGM and speak directly to the board, calling on Bayer to stop producing neonics.
We managed to steal the show and let everyone know: the world is not prepared to stand by in silence while our beloved, hard working bees die in order for Bayer to make millions.
We have big plans for the months ahead to finally get bee-killing neonics off the shelves. We will keep up the pressure on big hardware chains to stop selling the pesticide. We want to expand our fight to make sure grocery stores stop selling neonics, too.
Right now, we are throwing everything we’ve got at stopping the merger between Monsanto and Bayer. Can you imagine those two companies under one roof? It would be a catastrophe for the bees, farmers, and our whole planet.
When we stand together as theSumOfUs community, we can move even the biggest corporations. France passed a bill that moves towards an outright ban on neonicotinoids -- well over and above EU restrictions and exactly what scientists have been demanding for years to save our bees. We are fighting tooth and nail to get Glyphosate, another toxic herbicide, banned in Europe -- and delivered a real blow to Monsanto.
Let’s keep fighting to save our bees.
Thanks for everything you do,
Rosa, Anne and the rest of the team at SumOfUs
PS: We do not take money from corporations. All of our work is made possible by members like yourself.r0
