Green Thing Blog

British Honeybees need you – do the Green Thing and sign the Soil Association’s petition today to help get those nasty Neonicotinoids banned for good.

In the last two years the number of bee colonies in the UK has dropped by a third and consequently food miles on honey are on the up and the biodiversity of the British countryside is threatened.  There is now overwhelming scientific evidence that singles out Neonicotinoids, a highly effective insecticide, as the principle offender. 

Since the mid 1990s (that’s about 15 years ago), Neonicotinoids, have been used in commercial agriculture to maximise crop yields.  However, it turns out that these chemical nasties are having some worrying side effects on bees and in particular, honeybees.  Even if you don’t like honey on your toast, there are a few good reasons to be concerned about the dwindling bee population in the UK.  Firstly bees are the natural part the food chain; unlike Neonicotinoids they work in a positive way, pollinating crops and maintaining the biodiversity we enjoy in the countryside.  Secondly they have been performing this role for millions of years and it would be a shame (and rather short sighted) to loose all that hard work in just a few years.

For the full report on the effects of Neonicotinoids, visit the Soil Association’s website.

However, there is a simple solution that can help our bee colonies to thrive again – ban Neonicotinoids.  Several of our European neighbours, including France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia have all taken this important action and now thanks to the Soil Association’s petition to lobby the government, the UK could do the sensible green thing too.  Sign the petition online today, its quick and easy and will make a big difference. 

Find out about the other work the Soil Association is involved in here.

SHARE THIS

Bees are brilliant. Not only do they produce delectable honey to sweeten our porridge, but they also keep the ecosystem in order. The potentially catastrophic implications of declining bee populations have commanded much well-deserved media coverage, but it can leave you wondering what you can do to help.  While we might not all be of the persuasion to don a boiler suit and netted hood, who wouldn't want to do their bit for the bees?

Well, a new website in Germany is making it ever so simple to support the local bee community. Heimathonig.de (which translates as HomeHoney) allows users to search for local honey producers. Aside from the reported health benefits of local honey, sampling the varieties in your area offers a perfect opportunity to indulge. Train your taste buds to discern between monofoloral and polyfloral honeys and appreciate the  nuanced differences between a lavender and apple blossom variety.

Heimathonig estimates that there are over 85,000 beekeepers in Germany. By creating a profile on Heimathonig beekeepers who might not have the expertise, time or funds to build and maintain a website of their own can connect with consumers hungry for local honey. A post code search enables users to find who is selling on their doorstep and browse pictures of the hard-working keepers and bees!

 Although there are some basic databases to help you search for local honey and in the UK, there isn't anything as user friendly as Heimathonig. But hopefully the HomeHoney revolution will gain momentum and take the local global.

(Spotted on Springwise)

SHARE THIS

Would you like to see David Cameron covered in bees? A new campaign is doing just that with David Cameron's virtual bee beard.

Created to draw attention to the plight of Britain's honey bees, the Beebeard is a Twitter petition - every tweet adds a bee to David Cameron's beard, and once the beard grows to 10,000 bees, the petition will be taken to 10 Downing Street.

Honey bees are responsible for pollinating more than a third of the food consumed in Britain each day. So the fact that our honey bee population has suffered a loss of 30% in recent years and is continuing to decline means less food for us and less cash for the country. In fact, due to their vital role in the agricultural process, honey bees are estimated to be worth around £200 million to the British economy.

Add your name to the beard and don't forget to follow @davidsbeebeard.

If you really want to show your support, you can volunteer to wear an actual bee beard. This guy looks pretty happy about his!

Related post: Bee & Bee

(Photo credit: heartofgeorgiabeekeepers)

SHARE THIS

The bees are dying. Not the Isle of Wight band, but the little buzzy insects. It’s a hard campaign for most people to sympathise with. Nobody looks back fondly on the day they first got stung by a bee. But nevertheless, bees are essential to the growing of a third of our foods. Plus, honey is delicious.

The decline in bees has received some serious attention recently with the general consensus being that ‘something must be done’.  The fact about humans dying out within four years of bee extinction buzzed through my mind and, after a little Wikipedia research I came to the conclusion that this ‘fact’ wasn’t quoted by Einstein and may not be 100% correct. But the truth remains that due to less flower populated areas and more pesticides being used, the bees are having a tough time and it’s in our interest to help them.

Insect lover and artist, Karen Ingham, has designed a collection of dresses to give the bees a helping wing. With designs inspired by scanned electron microscopy images of plant pollen grains linked to endangered pollinators and coated with a nectar replica, these clothes will attract the buzzing insects and feed them some much needed energy. In simple terms, the dresses have a bright and crazy pattern that resembles the pollen in flowers that is so attractive to bees. Once attracted, the bees receive free food that enables them to buzz off and pollinate plants.

A quick bee fact: they feed on both pollen and nectar.  Nectar gives them energy and pollen gives them nutrients. So whilst they may not be pollinating the dress, they will be eating up energy to fly off to pollinate our food for us. The clothes are aimed at increasing the number of bees by feeding and promoting repopulation. Not sure a bee-encouraging dress is suitable for work? Not to worry, Karen has produced both day time bee dresses and night time moth dresses. An insect for every occasion.

Whilst we may want the bees to live, we probably don’t want them to live on us. The Pollinator Frocks can be hung outside like regular washing to attract bees with minimal bee-on-human contact. They are also going to be hung at a variety of events in different environments to raise public awareness and test their efficiency.

Wearing bee food isn’t the only way to help save the bees though. There are honey websites, bee-friendly flowers, wild bee-houses and of course, having a beard of bees. Sainsburys also lives up to its nectar points promise and keep bees too.

So this summer, let’s all be a bit friendlier to the bees.

P.S Treating fabric with bee food isn’t the only way to reuse material. Send us your old unloved t-shirts and we’ll help them become Saved.

(Spotted on Inhabitat)

SHARE THIS

Consider Hong Kong; it's a pretty urban place by anyone's standards, to the extent that there aren't too many spaces available to lure in honey bees, either through growing flowers or keeping a hive. However, if you watch the lovely video above you'll witness a wonderful tale of triumph over adversity.

Honey bees are pretty important. They're essential for honey (obviously) but more importantly responsible for fertilising one-third of the world's crops. Without bees we'd have to resort to fertilising crops by hand, which would be fairly laborious, not to mention boring, (though arguably therapeutic).

HK Honey is a network of beekeepers and creatives in Hong Kong set up by HK resident and designer Michael Leung after he became the first urban beekeeper in the area. HK Honey is a veritable hive of activity (sorry, I had to get it in there somehow); aside from producing honey, they also design bee related products as well as collaborating with schools, cafés and other organisations. You can even visit their headquarters to have a look around or to take part in a candle-making workshop.

By keeping a beehive on his roof and encouraging others to do the same, Michael has created a network of hives in the area that not only encourages the local bee population to thrive but that also helps raise the profile of honey bees and the issue of just how important they are to humanity.

Ps- Here's another bee related article or buy a bee station for your garden to encourage your local bee population. Or go here or maybe here for more information on how you can help bees.

(Spotted on Grist)

SHARE THIS