Page 13 - The Wave Holistic and Metaphysical Journal March/April 2016

Our Precious Honey Beesby Stacey Leigh Mohr
My father was a beekeeper. He taught me to love and appreciate bees and bee culture. He taught me not to fear the bees that buzzed around us, but to remain calm, and gently brush them off is they lingered too long on an arm or shoulder. I marveled as I watched him pet a honeybee perched on his finger.
When I saw Theresa Joyce’s beautiful painting “The Queen” displayed at Stone’s Throw many months ago, I fell in love with it. Someone else had the good fortune to acquire the original, but I new that one day soon I would ask Theresa if she would give permission for her beautiful artwork to grace the cover of The Wave; and that there would be an article about bees in that issue.
This is THE issue! And as it turns out, I have the pleasure of writing the article! As many people
are aware, our bee colonies in the US have been in trouble for a long time: mysterious die-offs, hives abandoned, colonies too weak to survive hibernation. Several causes have been found for the precipitous and dangerous decline of bee colonies throughout America. The decline was shaping up to be a disaster for our food supply and our environment.
The good news is that the future once again looks bright for our bees. According to the BeeThinking Blog, (http://www.beethinking.com/blogs/top-bar- hive-blog), 2015 was a heart-swarming year for bee health advocates and beekeepers around the world.
While bee colony populations in the United States still remain in great peril, progress is being made on a legislative level to help increase healthy habitat for honeybees.
ɶ In May, President Obama released a national strategy for promoting pollinator health. With this goal in mind, he set guidelines for pollinator-friendly management practices for federal lands as well as
the Pollinator Research Action Plan.
ɶ In response to over 4 million signatures, the use of the neonicotinoid Sulfoxaflor was banned by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
ɶ Beekeepers and food lovers across the world are in similar battles to protect bee populations and healthy food supplies. The slow foods movement to organic, locally grown foods has helped to reduce the overall use of pesticides in agriculture, therefore reducing pesticide exposure for bees.
ɶ The home improvement chain, Lowe’s, has committed to removing neonicotinoids from their shelves over the next four years. Additionally, Home Depot announced that they would immediately start labeling plants that were pretreated with neonicotinoids, and would completely eliminate their use by the year 2018.
ɶ One of the world’s largest popcorn companies, Pop Weaver, has declared it will reduce the use of neonicotinoid-coated seeds by 75% before 2018. (Over 79% of corn seeds in the U.S. are coated with bee-harming chemicals.)
ɶ After a 137 year ban, Californians welcome back urban beekeeping to Los Angeles. In October, Los Angeles lifted a beekeeping ban that dated back to 1879. This puts LA in line with most other major U.S. cities, allowing residents the freedom to delve into the world of urban beekeeping.
While much progress was made in 2015 to reduce the use of pesticides, there is still a lot of work to be done. The EPA is considering banning or severely restricting the use of Neonicontinoids in pesticides. But they are reviewing each pesticide one at a time, rather then considering the whole class of neonicontinoids. If you want to learn how you can help to get these pollinator
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