Event Calendar

Our October Program will be on October 27^th at 7:00pm.  This program will be an interactive remote program by Lena Freij and Dan Raichel of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). We will be meeting at our regular venue at People’s Church, where the program will be projected on the screen where the Powerpoint slides are regularly seen. The program will also be broadcast on Zoom as usual.

This month’s Program will explain the science behind the threats posed by neonicotinoid pesticides, aka “neonics,” to pollinators, biodiversity, and our own health, as well as neonics’ surprising prevalence in our environment. The popular pesticides contaminate soil, water, and plant life on a nearly unprecedented scale, raising alarm bells for wildlife, clean water, and human health. NRDC did a similar program on neonics for the Kalamazoo Wild Ones in May (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpSDFj7JuWY&ab_channel=KalamazooAreaWildOnes), but we agreed that another presentation aimed at birders would be valuable.

Lena Freij (she/her) is an Attorney on NRDC’s Nature Team who works to reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides that are harmful to human health and wildlife. Prior to joining NRDC, Lena worked as an Honors Attorney Fellow with EPA Region 10, where she brought administrative enforcement actions against violators of air, waste, pesticide, and toxics statutes. Lena holds a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and Policy from California State University, Long Beach and earned her JD from UCLA Law School.

Dan Raichel (he/him) is the Director of NRDC’s Pollinators and Pesticides Initiative, where he focuses on protecting our nation’s bee populations from the ever-growing threats to their health and existence—in particular, the use of bee-toxic pesticides. Before joining the Nature Program, Dan was co-director of NRDC’s Community Fracking Defense Project and an advocate for the cleanup of industrial pollution in the New York region. Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Cornell University and a JD from Columbia Law School.

This webinar will explain the science behind the threats posed by neonicotinoid pesticides, aka “neonics,” to pollinators, biodiversity, and our own health, as well as neonics’ surprising prevalence in our environment. The popular pesticides contaminate soil, water, and plant life on a nearly unprecedented scale, driving mass losses of birds and bees, and raising alarm bells for a whole host of wildlife, clean water, and human health.

We hope you'll join us on Monday, October 27th, at People's Church, 1758 North 10th Street, Kalamazoo. This program is geared to all audiences, and we enthusiastically invite families and nature lovers of any age to join us!  Come at 6:30 PM (new time – half an hour earlier this year) for some refreshments and socializing. Snacks and beverages will be provided. It's helpful if you bring your own coffee cup. The one-hour program will start at 7:00 PM. Handicap parking and access is at either the front or the rear entrance of the building.

We will have a simultaneous Zoom link to the meeting for those who can’t make it or feel uncomfortable as yet to attend in person. This link will be available shortly before the meeting in the November newsletter that is emailed to you. We will also be recording the meeting for later viewing.