Super Insects

Super Insects

Cody Ruse

I, along with my partners Braden and Brenden, am currently working on a project for my local contemporary environmental issues class. The subject we chose to work on is bees. So far we have learned that bees are extremely important to crops as well as wild plants such as flowers and trees. In addition, the honey that bees produce can help reduce the intensity of certain allergies. Our ultimate goal is to have a working bee hive on the Christchurch campus, that can be maintained by students and faculty. We have found out there is a beekeeper near the school that is willing to help us start a beehive.

The honey bee situation is much like that of the Chesapeake Bay oyster. Oysters are very beneficial to the bay because they provide food, habitat and they naturally filter the water. However, the current oyster population is only one percent of the population when watermen first started harvesting them. That is why today, there are many people and organizations devoting their time to re-populate the bay with oysters. On the other hand bees are much like oysters, except they live on land and they do not filter air or water. However they do an excellent job of pollinating gardens. There are individuals nationwide that keep bees as a hobby, in addition to the massive commercial beekeeping companies. As knowledge of the benefits of beekeeping spreads, so does the number of beekeepers. I believe that a beehive on the Christchurch campus would do more then just help our garden, it would make a statement. If a highschool environmental science class can can fully recognize the benefits of honey bees and succesfuly keep a beehive, then anyone can.

The main challenges we face, have to do with with manpower. Bees are not particularly difficult to keep by they do require an investment of time by their keeper. We have still not worked out who will be available to take care of the bees because they require attention year round and can die without it.

Overall bees would be very beneficial to our community. The only drawbacks would be that they do require year round assistance and there is of course the risk of stings. If we can find willing volunteers our whole campus would benefit, especially our garden.