The Go Green Debate

In recent years, the declining population of the honey bee in the U.S. has caused a trickle-down effect into other agricultural endeavors. This trickle-down effect doesn’t start with the decline of the bees themselves though. It starts from something known as Colony Collapse Disorder, which is a phrase for the fact that something is causing the entire bee colony to die off but no one really knows exactly why.

Penn State scientists have been analyzing pollen, wax, adult bees and brood (larvae), which led to the discovery of the presence of dozens of environmental chemicals, including pesticides used by agricultural producers to protect crops.

“This raises several complicated questions. Some of these compounds could react with each other to cause toxic effects or could combine with viruses or poor nutrition to weaken immunity and cause colony collapse. With the sheer number of compounds we’re finding in hives, it’s hard to believe that pesticides aren’t contributing to the general decline in bee health.”
- Maryann Frazier, senior extension associate in entomology

The U.S. population is growing faster then ever despite the lack of resources & the impact it has on the planet. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. population will hit 303.15 million on January 1, 2008. This is up 0.9 percent from last year. They also estimate that in 2008, the country will add one person every 13 seconds.

Would you choose to not have a family to save the planet?

Well that is exactly what Toni Vernelli & Sarah Irving did.
Meet the women who won’t have babies - because they’re not eco friendly.

Toni at age 27 was sterilized to “protect the planet”. Her boyfriend at the time, now husband, was very supportive, being an environmental activist himself, gave her a card on the morning of surgery saying “Congratulations”.

Sarah at age 31 & after a year of dating her boyfriend, Mark Hudson, started talking about sterilization. At the age of 37, Mark had a vasectomy and the couple felt incredibly relieved there was no chance of them having a baby.