Save Ice Cream! #HelpHoneyBees

Häagen-Dazs knows the importance of honeybees to ice cream. Pollination is “essential for ingredients in nearly 50 percent of our all-natural superpremium flavors,” according to their website, HelptheHoneyBees.com.

In an effort to raise awareness for the decline in honeybee populations around the world, they are helping fund research for scientists to learn more about the problem and find solutions. Over the last three years, one in three honeybee colonies has died. Scientists are calling the phenomenon CCD for Colony Collapse Disorder. In CCD cases, all of the bees in a colony abruptly disappear, deserting the hive.

Honeybee_cygnus921_Flickr

Fast Honeybee Facts:

  • One of every three bites the average American eats is directly attributed to honey bee pollination.

  • Honey bees are responsible for the pollination of more than 100 crops, including fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.

  • They provide 80 percent of the country’s pollination services.

  • Without honey bee pollination, one-third of our food supply would be in jeopardy.

How You Can Help Honeybees:

  • Tweet using #helphoneybees: For every tweet between Nov. 5-11 that includes #HelpHoneyBees, Häagen-Dazs will donate $1 to the University of California at Davis, which is doing great research into Colony Collapse Disorder. The donations are capped at a maximum of $500 for each of the 7 days (a total of $3,500). Find out more…

    For easy copying and pasting:

    Häagen-Dazs to donate $1 for every #HelpHoneyBees tweet Nov. 5-11 to fund Colony Collapse Disorder research http://su.pr/5oMnCY (via @NWF)

    ** UPDATE FROM TWITCAUSE ** “Following our extremely successful first day of #HelpHoneyBees, Häagen-Dazs has generously decided to DOUBLE their maximum daily donation, from the initial $500 to a new maximum of $1,000 per day (for a new grand total of $7,000)! We’re super excited with the news and want to send a special thank you to all of you that have been tweeting! Keep it up!”
     

  • Learn more about Häagen-Dazs’ efforts to “Help the Honeybees”: Not only can you spark donations through Twitter, but also with your “bee built” ice cream purchases. They even created a special flavor as a tribute: Vanilla Honey Bee.

  • Turn your garden into a Certified Wildlife Habitat™: Provide habitat suitable for bees, birds, butterflies and other pollinators.

More Honeybee info:

“The Buzz on Native Pollinators” – National Wildlife® magazine: As European honeybees decline, indigenous bees and other pollinating animals can provide a backup–with a little help from their human friends.

“Busy with Bees” – National Wildlife® magazine: In Bavaria, a team of industrious scientists uses high-tech tools to study the secret lives of honeybees–work that could shed light on the pollinators’ mysterious disappearances.

Three Ways to Plant for Pollinators

Get more tips from this National Wildlife® magazine web exclusive.

  1. Select plants that provide a lot of nectar and pollen. Many ornamentals have been specifically bred to produce little or none of these essential foods.

  2. Plant a diversity of species so your yard will provide bees, butterflies and other animals with nectar and pollen from spring through fall. To attract bats and nocturnal moths, consider night-blooming plants in addition to day-bloomers.

  3. Be a “messy” gardener: Leave some patches of unmulched soil and brush piles that bees, birds and other animals can use to construct nests. Consider building or purchasing a bee house for wood-nesting wasps and bees.

| , , , ,
Published: November 5, 2009