Treasuring
and protecting our natural resources: bees
With Thanksgiving on the way, it’s the perfect time to show gratitude to the earth’s harvest. As climate change continues to threaten our natural resources, it’s essential to not just be grateful, but to strive to preserve the resources that sustain humanity.
This month, we decided to focus on threats and solutions to the earth’s bee population.
“Bees are the lifeblood for our existence. Their pollination allows our plants and food crops to reproduce. Without them, we are in trouble.”
The earth’s honeybee population is in crisis. According to Greenpeace, the number of bee colonies per hectare has decreased by 90 percent since 1962."
The buzz surrounding new bee species
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In the US, farmers are taking action, learning to raise other bee populations, including the blue orchard bee, the bumble bee and alfalfa leaf cutter, who are also effective pollinators in certain settings.
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New Stardust grant awarded for honey bee preservation
While it’s great to look for new bee sources, it’s also
important to treasure and preserve the honey bee population.
Stardust’s advisory board recently approved a fall 2019 funded project, a grant for a meadery in Ohio that wants to fight for the state’s bee populations!
Founded by Philip Nielssen, the James McAvene’s Meadery will produce a honey-based wine and other honey products to help revitalize the honey bee population in Ohio.
International bee
activism
In Germany, a Save the Bees movement is booming. Their Green, Social Democratic, and Ecological Democratic parties, nature conservation and research organizations, organic food companies and distributors, and bee producers have banded together.
They are lobbying the government to pass measures including: the support of organic farming, increasing the number of natural meadows, prevent further losses of biodiversity, protect clean water and limit pesticide use. These regulations were passed in Bavaria, to great joy and celebration.
Recommendations
Gift giving season is approaching, and so are shorter, darker days, so I thought I'd end with some cheering recommendations.
The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
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Philip Pullman, you may recall, is the author of the Sally Lockheart detective stories and the epic fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials. His books have fully realized, brave but flawed heroines, that taught me well about religious authoritarianism, adolescence, the perils of unchecked capitalism, and xenophobia.
His new book, The Secret Commonwealth, continues to fight against the growing threats of inflexible thinking and ideological authoritarianism. It’s also a great story to delve into during November’s gray days.
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Check it out
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Speaking of bees, my other fall recommendation is spicy honey, like Mike’s Hot Honey, which is sourced from domestic bee kepers.
It’s great on pizza, in a sandwich, a cocktail, or in spiced chai for some extra warmth and sweetness, when the days get darker and colder.
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Check it out
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Until next month,
Thalia Bloom
Constellation Writer
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