Pollination Issues: Save the Bees

Photo courtesy of Bee Raw

Pollination and the crops that it leads to are dependent upon bees.

So, when Bee Raw founder, Zeke Freeman, thought of a creative way to raise awareness about Colony Collapse, he may not have expected to pick up the attention of celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson and Mario Batali. They took to Twitter in defense of bee pollination and helped to start a movement. You see, Zeke, started a website called BeaBee, Inc. that pretended to be a company that recruited people to be human pollinators. The fake company was pretending to capitalize on the market for pollination by humans in order to put the issue on people’s radar. The outrage that erupted on Twitter included celebrity chefs, environmentalists and consumers.

Zeke with his child at Holliday Farm – Photo courtesy of Bee Raw

From this creative awareness campaign, Zeke Freeman launched Save the Bees, which is a charitable organization that seeks to save the bee populations that are dying off due to pesticides, malnutrition and other factors. Save the Bees has three options for folks to help support bee populations through planting more flowers for pollination, signing a pledge or donating funds. Recently, I interviewed Zeke to learn more and below is our conversation.

CGM: What are the causes of the collapse?

ZF: There is no one reason we can pinpoint for why the bees are dying off in such staggering numbers. A variety of issues have led to the decline in the honey bee population, including pesticides (namely neonicotinoids), a parasitic mite called Varroa destructor, several viruses, a bacterial disease called European foulbrood, and the stress of transporting bees across the country to pollinate certain crops. Many think that pesticides play the biggest role, but scientists and beekeepers alike are struggling to determine what is causing Colony Collapse Disorder.

CGM: We have been hearing about the bees’ struggle over the last several years, what’s the first step the average person can take to make a difference in their own backyard?

ZF: There are many things the average person can do to help save the bees. One of the easiest—and prettiest—ways to help the bees is to plant bee-friendly flowers in your garden, as many bees don’t have enough to eat. Other ways to help bees at home are to cut out pesticides and fertilizers, ditch the mulch and plastic ground liners in your garden, and leave some weeds for additional bee food.

ZF: Buying locally-sourced, raw honey is a great way to support the efforts of your local beekeepers! Not only will yoube receiving delicious honey—a kitchen staple for every chef—but you will be helping the bees, beekeepers and apiaries in your area, leading to a healthy community of pollinators and plants.

In addition, buying organic fruits and vegetables means you are supporting farmers who don’t use pesticides, which is a win for both you and the bees!

ZF: It’s up to us to educate the younger generations—and the people around us—about the plight of the bees and what we can do to help. Bee Raw recently launched a campaign to Save the Bees through a social media push around a fake corporation called BeABee Inc. that was profiting off the demise of the bees. By sharing the message on Twitter and Facebook, we reached a larger audience, who in turn could share the message with their circles of friends. People need to know about what is happening to the bees, and what it means for our world and our future.

Thanks, Zeke for such informative answers and action plans for folks to implement. I love the idea of planting more flowers for more pollination. It is a great way to get kids into the garden and to help them understand the importance of bees for pollination. If you are looking to do this, have your kids pick the flowers that can attract bees so that they have ownership of what is being planted. It will lead them to care for them more and be open to learning more about bees and their role in pollination and creating successful crops.