Arctic Circle Cartoons - We Need to Stop Bombarding Bees With Pesticides
Even in New Zealand bees are dying at alarming rates. But pesticide use here is high. Bees and other insects cannot endure the onslaught of neonicotinoids, fungicides and other chemicals that are used to coat seeds (the ones that are bright blue when you open the packet), or are sprayed onto plants to control pests (only the biological controls have any specificity. Even natural pyrethrin kills a broad spectrum of insects).
Instead let’s make the soil healthier so that plants can look after themselves better. No dig, regenerative farming builds soil, fixes carbon and is better for bees and all of us.
Can You Tell How Much I Hate Social Media?
I wish I could leave Facebook, Instagram and Twitter completely, but they have become almost mandatory to be able to do certain things (following local events for example).
Arctic Circle Cartoon - What Plastic Recycling Numbers Mean (Mostly That You Can't Recycle)
Plastic recycling is complicated. Much of it isn’t recycled locally and has to be shipped overseas to process it. Even when it is processed, it has to be clean for it to be recycled.
All of which means that a tiny percentage of plastic is recycled and the rest is landfilled, or littered, or drifting around in our waterways.
Illustrated Epistle Extract: Is it Safe to be Let Off the Leash?
We are waiting this week for more details of the new COVID traffic light system which comes into effect on December 3. It will mean less lockdowns and less restriction of movement.
People who are doubly vaccinated will be let off the leash, particularly in Auckland, where they have been in lockdown for over 100 days. Travel out of Auckland is is kicking off from the 15th of December. My sister has booked a flight to see us in Christchurch a week later. Hopefully by then they will have ironed out the kinks.
Not being let off the leash as much is Molly. She has been a very bad girl, attacking other dogs for no reason. Only a few, but randomly, nice dogs, and luckily dogs that belong to people we know. It's upsetting and embarrassing (she hasn't drawn blood, but she has come away with mouthfuls of fur on two occasions. Not a good look.).
A dog trainer came out to the house on Thursday. Although she gave me some general training tools that I will put into practice, she couldn't explain why it was happening. Only to continue to work on training her to not only to obey our commands, but make her own good choices! I'm not sure how this is going to work…
This is an extract of my Illustrated Epistle, which goes out once a month-ish. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a cartoonist (specifically, mine). I'd love it if you signed up at the bottom of this page, or here:
http://eepurl.com/cCOOeD
Or head to the archive to read more here.