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02 July 2010
Help bees to help us- help us to help bees
I founded the charity Bees Action Network because bees (together with other beneficial insects), are in trouble. Our way of life may have to change drastically if something is not done to halt their decline in numbers. A third of the food we eat is pollinated by bees.
All types of bees are suffering. Take bumblebees: according to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust the UK has 24 species: 2 of which have become extinct and a further six are designated priority species needing conservation action. Other bumblebee species are declining and some may face extinction unless urgent action is taken.
The situation affecting honey bees is even worse. In Britain we lost 30% of bee hive colonies last year. In the USA some areas reported hive losses as high as 80 – 100% in 2007. This is a world-wide problem, and can only be solved by world-wide action.
Bees are falling prey to mites, viruses and in honey bees colony collapse disorder amongst other killers. Why? Pesticides, electro-magnetic radiation from mobile phone masts, lack of forage and habitat due to modern farming methods: some or all have contributed to reduced immunity and been implicated in their drastic decline. At Bees Action Network we feel that bees are suffering chemical overload.
The Soil Association, guardians of organic standards in Britain say this about neonicotinoid pesticides, implicated in bee death: … ‘The evidence against these chemicals is strong enough that they have been banned or suspended in France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia – but not yet in the UK……….. The Soil Association believes that there is already enough evidence to justify an immediate ban on neonicotinoids today.’
I began the charity not to represent beekeepers, although we have beekeepers on our Board – but to represent the bee – all bees. I have suffered in the past with severe illness caused by additives including pesticides, and by my example in avoiding adulterated food, have helped other people suffering from a variety of conditions to regain good health - I do feel an affinity with ailing bees.
Bees Action Network is urging community action now to correct the lack of good pure forage. With our Daisy Chain Campaign, we support communities who grow their own flowers, fruit and vegetables and who would like to have bee-lines of bee-loving nectar rich wildflowers and organic cottage garden plants running through their allotments, gardens and back yards; or people who would just like to have them running through their neighbourhood. True companion planting from which humans and insect pollinators benefit!
The Daisy Chain Campaign is to be run in collaboration with the charity Sustain, the alliance for sustainable local food in London, England. With its Capital Growth Project, Sustain supports Boris Johnson and Rosie Boycott’s campaign to establish 2,012 food growing areas all over London in time for the 2012 Olympics. Our ‘Daisy Chains’ of nectar-rich wildflower and organic cottage garden plants will run through these food producing areas to encourage pollinators and provide extra food for bees. Our website www.beesactionnetwork.org gives information on this campaign and about our organisation.
What we are doing in London and the UK can easily be done anywhere in the world. Start your own organic Daisy Chains! And remember:
· Cut the chemicals – think before you spray. Is there something more natural or organic you can use?
· Increase habitat – put up solitary bee and beneficial insect houses
· Increase natural forage – plant bee-loving nectar-rich organic plants and wildflowers
· Create a natural garden – make your garden a haven for beneficial wildlife. Save vegetable peelings and garden waste and use the resulting compost, together with good, honest manure (if necessary) on your garden! Eventually you will have soil teeming with all the elements needed to support the growing of healthy plants.
It is really important to choose Organic rather than conventional seed. Much conventional seed has a pesticide coating – and pesticides are something we want to avoid at all costs! Better to bee safe!
If you would like to become a supporter of Bees Action Network, you can click onto the Donate screen on our website and make a donation online. A small donation will make a big difference. All over the world ordinary people like you and me are realizing we can’t go on as we are, repeatedly altering the natural world to suit only ourselves. If we join together – to save bees and to save ourselves we will get results!
Help us to help bees, and in doing so help ourselves to a healthier future.
Allison Day
