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We here at TakePart have been greatly concerned with the serious threat that Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) poses to honey bees, so I’m very excited to share the good news that scientists may have found a way to help bees fight back against the somewhat mysterious disorder that is wiping out hives worldwide.

The parasitic Varroa mite is considered to be a major contributing factor to CCD, and so scientists from the Agricultural Research Service have bred bees that exhibit a strong expression of a genetic trait common to honey bees, which allows them to remove mite infested bee broods that would otherwise be destroyed. Read the rest of this entry >>

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and it is customary to eat lots of sweet things during this holiday to symbolize what we hope will be a sweet new year. That’s why Rosh Hashanah meals usually include apples and honey, honey cake, sweet challah with raisins and so on.  Since we are a little bee obsessed here on the TakePart blog, I thought it would be a good time to round up some news on these inestimable pollinators:

The 41st world apiculture congress, Apimondia, is currently in session in Montpellier, France. Ten thousand beekeepers, entomologists and other scientists are all asking the same question: What is killing our bees? Colony Collapse Disorder is still a mystery but this phenomenon continues to be a cause for great concern. From the AFP:

By some estimates, this unseen, unsung work is worth more than 200 billion dollars a year, often through hives that are trucked to monoculture farms to do pollinating magic at specific times of the year. Wild bees, bats and other pollinators are simply not numerous enough to do the trick.

Read more about Apimondia from the  AFP article, “Bee Deaths Set Apiculture Congress Abuzz”

UC Davis’ Department of Entomology just launched a website that is a one stop hive for everything you need to know about honeybees and native bees. Have a look around: Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility

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The Fall line-up for Stranger Than Fiction has been announced and there are some super interesting documentaries on the horizon for New Yorkers.

Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen’s documentary series that takes place at IFC in NYC always has a great selection of interesting, informing and important non-fiction film.

You can see the entire line-up HERE and below are the films I am most anticipating:

OCT 5: Mon. night special – OCTOBER COUNTRY (2009) Winner of the Silverdocs Jury Prize, October Country is a stunning directorial debut from Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher about a family in upstate New York haunted by ghosts of war, teen pregnancy, foster care and child abuse.
Q&A w. dirs. Michael Palmieri & Donal Mosher

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As urban farming grows in popularity, a British design company has made it even easier for city dwellers to raise chickens and keep bees in their backyard by designing ready-made coops and hives. I may only be a few home projects away from keeping bees and chickens myself, and while I think I’d prefer to build them myself, I must admit that the cleverly designed, ready-to-go structures are certainly appealing.

Omlet, the amusingly named company started by two graduates of the Royal College of Art in London, sells the Eglu (another great name), a plastic igloo that keeps out neighborhood predators, makes egg retrieval easy and is available in brilliant colors.  The team’s latest product, the Beehaus (apparently only available in the UK for now), simplifies the process of setting up a backyard or rooftop hive and streamlines honey collection.  Read the rest of this entry >>

Here at TakePart we love bees, beekeeping and local honey!  I love them too but I’ve always been a bit curious about how the beekeepers harvest the wonderful local honey from the bees.  Luckily there is the awesome video below from LA’s Backwards Beekeepers and Kirk Anderson to tell me how!

So cool! Although now I have to go find some honey to eat - honey is so good!

And if you want to try some of Kirk’s honey you can go HERE.

Cities offer bountiful rooftop space for beekeeping, but beekeepers in New York have had to keep their hives under wraps because beekeeping is currently illegal in the city.  Despite the fact that the bees are likely to only sting the beekeepers (and rarely at that), and pose no real threat to the general public, they are still considered wild animals by the city.  Bees offer a variety of benefits to city dwellers including fresh, local honey, and contribute to productive harvests in community gardens, public parks and nature centers.  As Colony Collapse Disorder continues to threaten hives all over, bees need all the help they can get.

Check out this short video about a few outlaw beekeepers in New York, and find out below what you can do to help legalize beekeeping in New York:

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Just wanted to remind everyone that today is Häagen-Dazs Bee-built FREE Flavor Day!  Sorry for the late notice for those of you on the East Coast, but you’ve still got an hour left, so hurry to a Häagen-Dazs shop near you!

Climate change will increase the number of people who suffer from allergies and asthma, and worsen conditions for those who already deal with the health conditions, according to health and climate experts.  As someone who is currently getting over a sinus infection, and has battled asthma in the past, I can tell you first hand that this is not good news.  Shifting global climate patterns are creating warmer, wetter winters which lead to longer, and more vicious pollen seasons.  Warmer conditions are also increasing the number of stinging insects that cause allergic reactions, as well as more pollen generating plant life.  Rising ozone levels also will make conditions worse for asthma sufferers.

Fortunately there are preventative steps that can be taken to reduce allergic reactions (eating local honey helps!) and prepare for these shifting patterns, but we also need to address the health of the planet if we aim to protect our own health as well.  Read the rest of this entry >>

Bees need all the help they can get these days, as concerns about Colony Collapse Disorder continue, and a new study reveals how important native plants are for honeybees and other pollinators.  So I encourage all of you gardeners out there to grow as many native plants as you can fit in your garden this year, and that goes for all first-timers, green veterans, and Michelle Obama, too!  There are lots of tasty edible plants that are great for attracting bees and other pollinators, including berries, melons, squash, cucumbers and basil, and plenty of beautiful flowers that can brighten up the borders of your garden.  Douglas W. Tallamy, an ecologist at the University of Delaware, and the author of “Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in our Gardens” told the New York Times:

If we gave them food — flowering native plants — and a place to build their nests, they would be able to take up the slack from decreasing honeybee populations.

And if you have a lawn, let it grow long and flower, bees will love it and your yard will be more colorful than those boring, labor- intensive manicured ones your neighbors have.  Read the rest of this entry >>

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has plagued bee keepers worldwide for years and threatens to devastate one third of our food supply, but the cure, let alone the cause for entire hives disappearing has remained a mystery, until now.  Spanish researchers have identified one possible cause for the devastating blight as a parasitic fungus, Nosema ceranae, and what’s even exciting is that they were able to successfully treat and cure the hives with the antifungal fumagillin.  The treatment clearly won’t serve as a complete panacea for CCD, as there are likely other causes and relying on a magic bullet for nature is never wise, but the results are encouraging.  Hopefully the discovery will lead to a great understanding to the other factors contributing to CCD, and more significantly encourage industrial bee keepers to practice healthier hive hygiene.

Happy Spring! Read the rest of this entry >>