Honey bees are responsible for producing one-third of your fresh fruits and vegetables, but they're disappearing at a startling rate.
Since the mid-2000s, honey bees all around the world, including the US, have been dying in unprecedented numbers—many hives literally disappearing without a trace—in a mysterious phenomenon dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
Some 130 different kinds of crops require honeybees to transport pollen between flowers, prompting fertilization and jump-starting the production of seed and fruit. As they buzz around in flight, the bee's hair develops static electricity.
When a bee lands on a flower, this static charge attracts pollen to the bee like a magnet. Honey bees from one hive can visit more than 100,000 flowers in a single day. Without honey bees, farmers would have to resort to pollinating their crops by hand, which is no quick and easy task...
"I had no idea about the importance of honeybees until I read an article in 2007 that bees were not only so crucial to our environment, but that they were dying out on a mass scale...
The article had a quote attributed to Einstein which scared me enough to get me to pick up my camera and dedicate the next three years of my life to this film. The quote read, 'If bees die out, man will only have four years of life left on Earth.' Even though this quote has been since disputed, it had a lasting effect on me, and the truth is that bees are so vital to our planet that we can't afford to lose them."
... the solution to this pervasive and downright life threatening problem lies in renewing a culture that operates in balance with nature.Supporting organic beekeepers is one way you can help turn the tide and increase the number of healthy bee colonies, which are so crucial to our food supply. Organic beekeepers take a far different approach to beekeeping than large migratory operations. They have fewer hives, and they don't truck their bees around for pollination. They also don't feed their bees the sugar syrups and artificial pollen substitutes typically used in large-scale commercial bee operations. As stated by Michael Pollan, "Nothing is more viscerally offensive than feeding the creators of honey high-fructose corn syrup."
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What You Can Do to Help Protect the Bees
Queen of the Sun has a section on their website devoted to things you can do to help protect our honey bees. Here are some suggestions for actions you can take:
For educators, there's a free PDF, written by Waldorf teacher Lauren Johnson, which you can download and use as your curriculum. It also contains a guide to creating your own urban beehive tour. You can also host a screening of Queen of the Sun. For more details and instructions, please see the Queen of the Sun website. There you can also sign up for their newsletter for timely updates. If you are interested in more information about bee preservation, the following organizations are a good place to start.
- Support organic farmers and shop at local farmer's markets as often as possible. You can "vote with your fork" three times a day.
- Cut the use of toxic chemicals in your house and on your lawn, and use organic pest control.
- Better yet, get rid of (most of )your lawn altogether and plant a garden. Both flower and vegetable gardens provide good honey bee habitats. It's also recommended to keep a small basin of fresh water in your garden or backyard, as bees actually do get thirsty!
- Become an amateur beekeeper. Having a hive in your garden requires only about an hour of your time per week, benefits your local ecosystem, and you can enjoy your own honey! As Queen of the Sun shows, many city dwellers are becoming adept smalltime beekeepers.
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