B.E.E. Heroes

1. Highlight the Problem

Bee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) could threaten the world’s food supply.

 

 

2. Action Plan Description

Teach people how to support wild bees and why it’s important.

• Develop a community campaign to inform and teach people how to support wild bees in their neighborhoods.

• Develop a plan to present to local nurseries to encourage them to stock and advertise bee-friendly plants.

• Develop a presentation for local governments to request they minimize mowing of ditches, and large areas of public property.

 

 

3. Research & Rationale

Insecticides and mites could be a main cause of Colony Collapse Disorder. Mass bee die-offs have been going on for centuries, but once pesticides were introduced, bee colonies have been declining ever since.

 

We found research about the loss of bee habitats because of so much home construction and the popularity of large mowed lawns.

 

We considered asking people to start having backyard bee hives, but we found that the average person might not be able to afford it. It could cost about $500 to start a small colony. The hives have to be maintained on a regular basis, and if they aren’t, unattended hives could support bacteria growth and mites which could affect the bee population in your neighborhood.

 

 

4. Goals

• Create a Community Education class to teach people how to encourage wild bees in their yards.

• Meet with City Councils to propose a change in how grass is mowed in public areas.

• Meet with County and State Governments to propose the same approach for mowing the ditches of highways and freeways.

• Create a plan to meet with local nurseries to ask them to stock bee-friendly plants.

 

 

5. Timeline

June

• After school is out in June, work on creating the informational pamphlets.

• Meet with local experts at the University of Minnesota to be sure we are presenting correct information.

 

July

• Set up meetings with owners of local nurseries to talk about stocking and advertising bee-friendly plants.

• Set up meetings with local governments to present our ideas at a council meeting.

 

August

• Prepare the community education class.

• Prepare to meet with local schools to encourage planting bee-friendly gardens.

 

 

6. Who’s who?

Stakeholders: Schools, local nurseries, local government council meetings, bee industry professionals, bee research experts, and our parents.

 

 

7. Resources

• Time, money, assistance from parents.

• Financial support to print pamphlets and class materials.

• Transportation.

• Focus group for presentations.

• Help from experts in the field of bee keeping and bee research to ensure that we are presenting correct information.

 

 

8. Challenges

• Our biggest challenge will be persuading people that CCD is a real thing. A lot of people doubt that this is a real problem. People may not want to learn about it.

• Coordinating our team members’ schedules to get the work done.

• We don’t know the process to talk to local governments about mowing practices.

• Bee-friendly plants might be more expensive. The Nursery owners might not think there’s a profit in those types of plants.

• We are four introverted teenage girls, and we might not be comfortable talking to people.

 

 

9. Evidence of Success/Evaluation

• We would begin to see less grass mowing of public areas.

• We could visit local nurseries and see if they are stocking more bee-friendly plants.

• We could visit the schools we talked to, to see if they have planted bee-friendly gardens.

 

 

10. Publicity

• Put our research and educational materials on social networking sites.

• Advertise in newspapers.

• We could advertise our website in pamphlets.

• We could do more presentations at schools.