kweed plants, which monarch larvae feed on, with GE corn and soy laced with herbicides. Almost 150 million acres of monarch butterfly feeding grounds have disappeared. Recent droughts in the mid west, Texas and the southwest are making it more difficult for the monarch butterflies to complete their journey.
WANT TO HELP THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY MAKE A COME BACK?
- First – DO NOT kill caterpillars, they turn into butterflies.
- Plant milkweed and nectar producing plants.
- On a patio you can plant milkweed, passion vine and parsley.
- Create a mud puddle to provide male butterflies with the minerals necessary for reproduction. Just sink a pan into the ground filled with equal parts of sand and composted manure. If you can keep it moist, it will become a hangout for butterflies.
- Place scraps and chunks of rotting apples, pears, oranges and peaches into a mesh bag and hang from a tree to attract butterflies.
Visit the website Monarch Watch for some more great information on butterfly conservation and projects to help save this beautiful butterfly.
Whether it’s the dying birds and penguins, the colony collapse disorder of honeybees or the decline of the monarch butterfly, one thing is very clear. Practices such as these: Using more super pesticides, stripping the land of it’s natural plants like milkweed and polluting the atmosphere and oceans/rivers all have one thing in common. They are all human induced. The challenge is for us to minimize the negative impact we are creating. Are we up for the challenge?