It is common knowledge that the bee population across the world is in peril. Which is no small thing, considering their importance. At least a third of all of the world’s food supply relies on the pollination habit of bees, flowers, of course, rely on bees, and in fact most kinds of fruit and berries and general plant life would cease to exist without them. In recent years, the largest contributor to the death of these fuzzy insects has been insecticide, something humanity may only be learning too late as the numbers of bees on our planet continue to dwindle away. However, there is still hope... Read More

We plant flowers to attract bees, have naturally growing things that attract bees, and in return the honey bees pollinate our flowering plants. Without pollinated plants, we’d have no wheat, no corn, and generally no food. That’s a problem. We’ve all read about the various theories on hives collapsing, and the concomitant lose of a huge portion of our bee population. Fortunately, certainly in Boulder, we are paying attention, finally. Unfortunately, we have a long way to go. As an aside, while wasps can sting repeatedly, and are quite aggressive and have PAINFUL stings, honey... Read More

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Our impact on the environment is complex and often interrelated.  For example, bees are dying from a variety of factors—pesticides, drought, habitat destruction, nutrition deficit, air pollution, global warming and more. Ninety percent of the world’s food crops are pollinated by bees, and humans are responsible for two major reasons that bees are dying: pesticides and habitat destruction. If bees die out, the world will face a serious food crisis. Our oceans are clogged with plastic, which is harmful to marine life. Between 4.8 and 12.7 million tons of plastic enter the ocean each year, according... Read More

The honey bee is the first bee that comes to mind when people think about bees (Apis mellifera). When prompted, many people will immediately mention bumblebees (Bombus spp.). However, did you know that Colorado is home to over 950 different kinds of bees? There are 950 different species of bees—a that’s lot! Bees come in a variety of colors, sizes, and shapes.  Read More

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About 10 years ago, bees all over the US started dying off in droves and no one could figure out why. The blight kept spreading and the mystery deepened, getting lots of media attention and an apocalyptic-sounding name: Colony Collapse Disorder. Farmers, understandably, panicked. Without bees to pollinate their crops, production would be decimated—from blueberries to oranges to carrots, almost everything in the produce aisle would disappear. Now, symptoms of Colony Collapse Disorder aren’t as common as they used to be but bees are still dying off at an alarming rate. Beekeepers and researchers... Read More