A new resurgence of an older story is recirculating social media and continues to bring awareness to the mass die-offs of the world’s bee population. Out of concern, actor/activist Morgan Freeman took up beekeeping in 2014 and converted his Mississippi ranch in to a bee sanctuary.
"There's a concerted effort to bring bees back onto the planet ... We do not realize that they are the foundation, I think, of the growth of the planet, the vegetation... I have so many flowering things and I have a gardener too. Because she takes care of the bees too, all she does is figure out, 'OK, what would they like to have?', so we've got acres and acres of clover, we're planting stuff like lavender, I've got like, maybe 140 magnolia trees, big blossoms ...
I've not ever used (the beekeeping hat) with my bees," he says. "They haven't (stung me) yet, because right now I'm not trying to harvest honey or anything, I'm just feeding them... I think they understand, 'Hey, don't bother this guy, he's got sugar water here.'"
Here is the 2014 video of Morgan Freeman telling The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon about his new “hobby” for the cause.
More and more celebrities are joining Freeman. GeeBees.ca reports:
“The bassist for The Red Hot Chili Peppers, ‘Flea’ is a backyard beekeeper cares for three hives at his home in L.A. as his way of attenuating the declining honeybee population.” Flea often posts pictures of bees on Instagram. Actor and activist Leonardo DiCaprio “took up the hobby as a way of managing stress.” Actress and activist Scarlett Johansson is also a beekeeper. “Domestic Diva” Martha Stewart started keeping bees at Turkey Hill Road in 1976.
Today, Martha's hives are buzzing at her Bedford home and cared for by Bedford Bee Honeybee Service. In true Martha-style, you can learn all about her honeybees here, and here, and here, oh and here too...
The dying off of bees has been called the "Beepocalypse" or Beemageddon. Washington Post reported America's honeybees are dying, putting honey production and $15 billion worth of pollinated food crops in jeopardy.
The trouble began in 2006 or so, when beekeepers first began noticing mysterious die-offs. It was soon christened "colony collapse disorder, “ [CCD] and has been responsible for the loss of 20 to 40 percent of managed honeybee colonies each winter over the past decade.
Washington Post adds there has bee some increase due to beekeepers. A government report by The National Strategy To Promote The Health of Honey Bees and other Pollinators reveals:
Honey bees have been in serous decline for more than three decades on the United States, as noted in the National Academy of Sciences report Status of Pollinators in North America (National Research Council, 2007). Declines in the number of managed honey bee colonies used in honey production have been documented by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Servide (USDA 2014). Starting in the 1940’s hen there were approximately 5.7 million colonies in the United States, the number of managed colored used in honey production has declined to approximately 2.74 million colonies today.
There are two main ways for beekeepers to replenish their stock.
The first method involves splitting one healthy colony into two separate colonies: put half the bees into a new beehive, order them a new queen online (retail price: $25 or so), and voila: two healthy hives.
The other method involves simply buying a bunch of bees to replace the ones you lost. You can buy 3 pounds of "packaged" bees, plus a queen, for about $100 or so.
The massive dying of bees has been linked pesticides being used on crops.
The concern for bees dying off is a great. With well-known respected actor/activists like Morgan Freeman giving this issue more attention to millions of fans, it may inspire others to become involved. One respected extensive source of information on this issue concurs national conversation and public education is what’s most needed. The National Strategy To Promote The Health of Honey Bees and other Pollinators at Whitehouse.gov put out a report in 2015. The Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and the Administrator for Environmental Protection Agency Gina McCartney write:
By expanding the conversation through enhanced public education and outreach, as well as strongly-guilty public/private partnerships, the Strategy seeks to engage all segments of our society so that, working together, we can take meaningful steps to reverse pollinator declines.
Pollinators are critical to our Nations economy, food security, and environmental health. Honey Bee pollination alone adds more than $15 billon in value to agricultural crops each year, and provides the backbone to ensuring our diets are plentiful with fruits, nuts and vegetables. Through the action disscussedin this Strategy, and by working with partners across the country, we can and will help restore sustain pollinator health nationwide.
Respect the bees. Save the bees. We need the bees.