Given the consequences for our farms and our food, you’d think we’d be doing all we can to protect bees and other pollinators from neonics. Scientists say that we don’t need to spray these chemicals all over our homes because we have commonsense alternatives—like staggering the time of planting and watering, and planting more native species.

But instead of exploring alternatives, giant corporations like Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Bayer and Syngenta are downplaying the risk of these chemicals.

Alarmed by the role these chemicals are playing in bee colony collapse disorder, the European Union has banned several of them, states like Maryland and Connecticut have banned the private sale of neonics, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has committed to phasing them out on the public lands they manage.

But even with so much evidence showing that this stuff needs to be banned, stores continue to sell these chemicals, which are then used in our gardens, parks and schools.

To restore bee populations to health and save our food supply, our national network is working to ban the sale of bee-killing pesticides for our homes, parks and gardens in 21 states around the country. And we’re working with local governments to ensure that these bee-killing pesticides are not used on any public property.

If enough states take action, we will eliminate the use of more than 40 percent of insecticides used in this country. That’s a lot of bees that we can save—bees that will pollinate our food. And collective action on that scale will send a strong signal to large chemical companies that we want them to stop poisoning our parks, homes and food with these products.

It’s absurd that we would continue to spray chemicals that are known to kill bees just as we’re in the midst of an unsustainable die-off in bee populations. That has to change. Now.