4 years ago the UN decided to make May 20th World Bee Day! This day was chosen in honour of a Slovenian beekeeper, as well as it being a day that works in both hemispheres to celebrate bees. For those in the north, it is a spring day where all the flowers and plants are coming into bloom for the bees and in the south, it is that time of year when hives are being harvested and the season of honey and honey based products begins.
World Bee Day is an important event to mark on your calendar, as it is the day where the spotlight is shone on the bees and how important they are for our survival. It helps to spread awareness of the impact of bees and puts them at the front of the conversation. Bees are very important as they pollinate two thirds of our food production.
Bees around the world have been doing it tough over the last few years, but the Australian bees have had an even rougher time. As they were massively affected by the 2019/2020 bush fires and are still in the process of recovering today. These fuzzy black and yellow creatures need our help!
So what can you do the support the bees this World Bee Day? Well it’s as simple as buying local Australian honey or planting flowers or food producing plants in your backyard.
There are plenty of World Bee Day events being run over the weekend of the 22nd of May which you can check out here; https://www.worldbeeday.org.au/explore/ lots of these events are farmers markets, that are joining the cause and supporting the bees, by featuring local honey producers. Maybe you can pick up some of local honey there!
We at People in Plastic love supporting the local bee industry, through suppling equipment to distribute and sell the honey. I’m sure some of our staff will be out there at the farmers markets this weekend picking up local honey.
We need our bees for food security, biodiversity and ecosystem health! So get out there this World Bee Day and this weekend to show your support for the bees and their beekeepers!!