In 2015 Lake City became the first town in South Carolina to receive Bee City status. Since then several others have followed suit, and it’s a good thing.
Because these little bugs need all the help they can get if the humans on this planet are going to continue to eat!
There are several factors (and still some mysteries) threatening the bees: diseases like Colony Collapse Disorder which has affected more than half of the bee colonies in the U.S. over the last few years, the use of pesticides such as neonicotinoids on crops that kill bees, and climate change that affects the quantity and timing of flower bloom where the bees feed.
Bees are in the news again as the Trump version of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) continues routinely to use a so-called “emergency loophole” to allow known bee toxic pesticides to be used on millions and millions of acres of bee pollinated farm crops, flowering apple, peach, and nut trees, rice, etc., resulting in multiple lawsuits from beekeepers and food safety advocates.
Meanwhile, we eat the pesticides on our foods and the bees die.
Towns like Lake City are raising awareness of the role of pollinators in the food supply, educating citizens, and building bee-friendly habitats around the town, like the fun flower garden above.
Even if, like us, you don’t live in a Bee City, here are some ways to help.
This is a worldwide problem, but here are a couple petitions you can sign if you live in the U.S.
Below: a local camellia pollinator at work!
We often forget how much we need the bees.
ReplyDeleteWhy do we keep doing what we do? In many ways Homo sapiens is the dumbest species ever to darken the face of the Earth.
ReplyDeleteI am so upset with the current EPA undoing so many things that help/ed improve our water and food supply. Thanks for the list and petition links.
ReplyDeleteIsn't what Der Fuhrer Trump utters every bloody moment of the day, the law?????????
ReplyDeleteSeems there is a law from Trump and Co. and one for the rest of the US.
Please let sense once again prevail in the US before you run out of friends.
Colin
Maybe these days honey is barred from 1600 Penn.Ave tables.
DeleteToo difficult for the clowns to put on bread, biscuits or toast???
Colin
Things are being done but is it enough.
ReplyDeleteGosh we do need bees. So you have a real problem then. Bees some years here are in short supply apparently.
ReplyDeleteWe have a hedge of camellias and also two hedges of lavender, good for bees
In the past few years we have seen a decline in bees. We do have wasps! Cooperate farms are the big problem in this area. I shudder to think of the pesticides on their crops...potatoes, wheat and beans :(
ReplyDeleteI have seen a few bees here this summer.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of bee status towns. Hopefully raising awareness will help.
ReplyDeleteJust stopping by to let you know I am keeping up with your blog even though I can't always leave a comment. Sometimes blog let me comment and sometimes they don't. I like to read bout what we can do to keep bees. I try to do that in my own small part off the world and I do see them, so that's a good thing. Glad you are able to move around after your surgery. Thanks for stopping by my blog when you do. Hope this finds you well.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photo.
ReplyDeleteIt really is worrisome. My husband worked for EPA and is aghast at what’s been happening with our current administration. I see fewer bees in Hawaii now too.
ReplyDeleteThat is a cool building!
ReplyDelete