Saving The Bees & The Sting We'll Feel If We Don't
Saving the bees is an important part of the sustainability movement. Without them, the world just won’t be the same. We need bees and they need us. (Plus why you should consider starting a local hive of your own.)
Why save bees?
Bees are a fundamental part of the ecosystem. An ecosystem we depend upon for air, and for food. A third of all food crops for humans are pollinated by bees. They also keep untold plants and flowers alive, plants that sustain animals — impacting both the plants we eat, and the meat food sources as well.
Regardless of your diet (standard, vegetarian, vegan), bees make modern civilization and much of our food source possible.
Where are all the bees going?
Before we can work on saving the bees, we have to answer the question of why they’re disappearing. Climate change, habitat loss, herbicides, and pesticides are all contributing factors to the loss of our bee populations.
As humans take more and more of the planet’s land for themselves, spreading out horizontally, there is less habitat for other living creatures, like the bees, to enjoy. It’s all a part of the urban sprawl. Deforestation, and human development in meadows and wetlands also takes its toll.
Moreover, industrial beekeepers (and the consumer’s need for honey) contribute to neglectful beekeeping practices — like removing their honey in the off-season, or transporting hives at speeds that damage them, and their production.
This relies on taking from the bees and can lead to collapsed hives.
Creating a local buzz instead
All in all, our current demand for honey and pollination cannot be met if industrial beekeepers continue to use the typical beekeeping methods. A lot more people need to "keep" bees, in a lot more places, using methods that encourage them to do their thing.
Introducing the model of Gunther Hauk
Gunther Hauk has spent four decades working as a biodynamic beekeeper. Having never lost a hive or experienced a colony collapse, he is an amazing beekeeper with a focus on what we can give to the bees, not what we can get from them.
This is just a sample of the practices he follows, that lead to healthier, longer-lasting hives:
Let the bees build the comb as they prefer
Let them keep their honey for the winter (instead of taking it away and then giving them sugar)
Take surplus honey in spring
Let them keep their pollen
(We highly recommend reading his book, “Toward Saving the Honeybee” to understand this approach and perspective in full.)
How can we help to save the bees?
Donate to a “save the bees” organization like the Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary (our personal favorite because of their full-hearted service to the bees), Project Apis m or The Bee Conservancy.
Plant flowers and plants that bees can benefit from. This provides bees with food!
Avoid using pesticides, herbicides, or products made with them. Check out our guide on less harmful, homemade herbicides.
Buy honey and other items to support your local beekeepers.
Look into setting up bee houses or leaving dead trunks in your backyard (they love those). Giving bees a safe and cozy home to live in goes no small way toward helping them out.
Bee yourself
Saving the bees won’t be easy, but it can be done. Whether you're donating to a save the bees organization, or finding other ways to support the environment bees depend on, we’re all in this together. Bees and humans alike.
Bees are an essential part of our ecosystem. The bees' livelihood is our livelihood.