In Minnesota, solar farms are commonly surrounded by bee-friendly flowers
Solar farms? Good. Solar farms surrounded by prairie grasses and budding flowers? Excellent. In Minnesota, it’s becoming common for large solar energy sites to have pollinator-friendly plantings around them. Not only do they provide habitat for the bee and butterfly populations people have been Read More...
Why beekeeping is big business these days
How do beekeepers make most of their money? While honey may seem like the obvious answer, the real answer is that beekeepers make most of their money from pollination services where they provide hives to farmers. Just look to California where nearly 80 percent of the world’s almonds are grown. Read More...
How hemp crops can help save pollinators during the summer months
For honeybees, the months between July and September aren’t the finest months for collecting pollen in America—which is problematic considering these are the months that honeybees are supposed to thrive. The reason behind this is that there’s a lack of farm crops during that time that Read More...
Argentina’s wild bees are choosing a strange material to build nests: plastic
The ways that bees adapt to problems created by humans is both brilliant and saddening. Just look to Argentina where researchers have discovered bees constructing nests entirely made of the flimsy plastic packaging material left on farms. From 2017 to 2018, researchers at Argentina's National Read More...
Here's what you can do to save the bees!
This week we’re giving a lot of attention to the bee, one of nature’s most important creatures. Why? Because bee populations have been plummeting, and we must do everything in our power to save them. Since bees pollinate almost every major crop, we’d lose one-third of our food sources if bees Read More...
Vermont passes bill restricting the use of pollinator-killing pesticides
Pesticides are one of the main reasons why bee populations have plummeted at an incredible rate in the past couple of years. In Vermont, for example, beekeepers reported losing an average of 57 percent of their hives from 2017 to 2018, and that’s even higher than the national average of 40 Read More...
Minnesota will pay homeowners to turn their lawns into bee-friendly gardens
Minnesota is on the verge of passing a landmark piece of legislation that will incentivize people to transform their yards into bee-friendly gardens. Under the new bill, which is awaiting the signature of Minnesota’s Governor Tim Waltz, a total of $900,000 will be allocated to cover up 75 percent Read More...
The EU has banned one of agriculture’s most-used pesticides to save the bees
Although you may not be a big fan of bugs, it’s bad news for everyone that insect populations are rapidly dwindling around the world. Insects are the foundation of nature’s ecosystems, and without them, we would run the risk of a ‘catastrophic collapse’ of those ecosystems. Still, if we Read More...
How the people of Bavaria are uniting to save bees, bugs, and birds
We are constantly berated with alarming reports that forecast a gloomy future for our planet, giving us two options for how we can react. Either we become paralyzed and give up, or we unite together in the face of adversity to enact change. The Bavarians of southern Germany chose the second option Read More...
Give bees a chance
Reports of catastrophic declines in the bee population have scientists buzzing. Is it mites? GM crops? Mobile phones? Habitat loss? Here's what the plight of the humble bee says about our own relationship to nature. Pat Thomas | Jan/Feb 2008 issue Reports of catastrophic declines in the bee Read More...