Easy Peasy Pollinator Political Action

This link from Panna will create a letter addressed to your representative for support of bills SF 2695 & SF 2785 after you put in your zipcode. Then all you do is hit send. Easy.

Public Action Letters for Pro Pollinator Bills

"The first bill, which was passed by the House earlier this week, defines neonics as “pollinator lethal insecticides” and would bar nurseries from labeling any plants pre-treated with these insecticides as bee-friendly. Right now, if you buy a plant at a nursery, you have no way of knowing whether or not it will harm bees. Not good!

The other bill would provide financial compensation for beekeepers whose colonies die from exposure to pesticides. It would also establish a team of experts to investigate these incidents, and determine the source of exposure." 

Panna (emphasis added by HBC)

Satisfying Carnage

This is a video of the Australian Stratiolaelaps scimitus mite (formerly called Hypoaspis miles) attacking our own Varroa destructor mite.

Attack of the mites

April 2014 Newsletter

The State of the Bees: Event Background

The State of the Bees: Event Background

"Nina Hale, Inc. is cohosting a free, educational talk on “The State of the Bees” with Dr. Marla Spivak, the Walker Art Center, Pearson’s Candy Company, Aveda, UMN Bee Lab Supporter Jennifer Martin, and Pollen at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16, 2014.

These seemingly diverse companies have come together for one important reason: bees. Since 2006, North American migratory beekeepers have seen a 30% to 90% loss each year in their colonies. With one in three mouthfuls of our diet impacted by bee pollination, this is alarming news. If we don’t act soon, agriculture as we know it could be in danger.

As a 2010 MacArthur Fellow, TED Talks participant, and distinguished McKnight Professor in Entomology at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Marla Spivak is uniquely qualified to lead this discussion. After her talk, you will leave with a better understanding of how bees operate, why bees are critically important, some of the serious threats bees face, and most importantly how we as concerned citizens can help the bees.

The Walker Art Center has generously offered to host the event in their gorgeous cinema. Come to learn about bees, stay for Bit O’Honey from Pearson’s Candy Company; seed packets of bee-friendly flowers from Aveda, Nina Hale, Inc., and Jennifer Martin; and more local bee information from Pollen."
sign-up here