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Municipalities consider proclaiming Day of the Honey Bee
Susan Thompson
for South Peace News
If Clinton Shane Ekdahl gets his way, May 29, 2010 will be the first annual national Day of the Honey Bee.
Ekdahl has been contacting officials at every level of government in Canada with a letter outlining his desire to create a day to raise awareness about the importance of honey bees as pollinators of food crops and the problem of colony collapse disorder (CCD).
Ekdahl was inspired to do something to raise awareness about honey bees while on a walk home past the local food bank, where he saw broccoli being unloaded. Ekdahl began to think about how much less broccoli would be available to those in need if there were no bees.
“I knew that 90 per cent of broccoli depends on bees for pollination,” Ekdahl says. “I thought, I know honey bees are dying, and if they continue to do so, so many people are starving now. How many more will be starving then?”
Ekdahl cites the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, saying that Canada lost 35 per cent of its honey bees last year, or 20 per cent more than a sustainable loss. He points out that without honey bees to act as pollinators, many food sources including fruits and crops will be threatened.
Ekdahl says while he’s no expert, he raises bees himself as a hobby in his backyard in the city of Saskatoon, and currently has four hives. He is also passionate about reducing human impact on the environment.
Ekdahl first approached the Saskatoon Food Bank and explained the importance of the honey bee to the director, who was surprised to learn how important the honey bee is to food production and how few people in the general public know it. After successfully raising awareness at the food bank, Ekdahl decided to write a letter to city hall. He spoke at a council meeting there, and due to his passionate speech on the importance of bees to humanity, Saskatoon became the first city to proclaim May 29 the Day of the Honey Bee.
Ekdahl decided to write a letter to the city of Regina too. When that city followed suit and issued its own proclamation, the project began to snowball.
“I thought, wow, this is great. If I can accomplish this, what more can I accomplish?” Ekdahl says. He began the massive project of contacting every level of government, including every municipality in Canada.
“I could have stopped at the City of Saskatoon,” Ekdahl says. “But I believe my message will have even more impact the more municipalities come on board.”
So far, the response to Ekdahl’s idea has been overwhelmingly positive. Five municipal governments in Canada have already agreed to proclaim a Day of the Honey Bee. In Ekdahl’s home province of Saskatchewan, the cities of Saskatoon, Regina and Tisdale are all on board. Milton, Ontario and Port Alberni, B.C. have also reviewed Ekdahl’s letter and proclaimed May 29 the Day of the Honey Bee.
Closer to home, Grande Prairie’s environment committee voted on August 17 to recommend to council that the city do the same.
The Town of Falher has confirmed Ekdahl’s letter was received last week, and will be on the agenda of the next council meeting on Sept. 8 as correspondence.
Ekdahl says he respects the town of Falher for celebrating honey bees with the bee sculpture and honey festival, and for having so much awareness about the importance of bees. That’s why the town should issue its own proclamation.
“It would be a matter of adding your voice to others, to make your voice louder,” he says. “Then that ripple effect will extend beyond one town, one province, and one country. Everyone needs to acknowledge the importance of the honey bee.”
“I’d argue we rely on it more than any other domesticated animal.”
Ekdahl hopes as public awareness about the importance of the honey bee grows, more funding will become available from governments for research into bees and minimizing threats to bees, including CCD.
Ekdahl also hopes having a day to celebrate honey bees will encourage muncipalities to become more bee friendly.
“Leaving some wildflowers intact rather than mowing them down, since grass is like a desert to a bee, can help,” Ekdahl says. “There are some municipal governments that do ban bees, and I would encourage them to lift those bans.”
Ekdahl also hopes municipalities will do more to ban pesticides that may negatively impact beehives.
Ekdahl feels if too many people stay silent or say no to an official day to celebrate bees, not enough will be done to save them.
“Why not issue a proclamation?” he says. “It doesn’t cost anything whatsoever, but it sends a message.”
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