(Image Above: Bees and Pesticides)
The survival of bees is at stake all over the world, mainly due to human ignorance, greed or ambivalence. If we could all see the bigger picture, we would realize that in the long run, humanity will be the biggest loser if bees continue to decline.
We're presenting you here with two awareness-raising viewing opportunities. One is in Mexico and the other is in Europe. Please watch, share with others, and pass this along to educate people. If you want to bee proactive and bee the change, there is a link to a petition you can sign at the bottom of this blog post. It needs 1 million signatures so it can be presented to the European Commission and Parliament.
Documentary: What Happened to the Bees?
Directors Adriana Otero and Robin Canul created a powerful 67-minute documentary in 2019 that is now available in an online Virtual Festival for a time sensitive ten-day window March 19 at 12PM to March 28, 2021 at 11:45PM. It is co-presented with the National Museum of the American Indian, the Embassy of Mexico and the Mexican Cultural Institute.
If you pre-order it now you can watch it for free.
This film exposes the deadly effects on millions of bees when agrochemicals are regularly used, even if they are currently legal in countries like Mexico and the USA.
This documentary explores how the health, wellbeing, and environment of Maya beekeeping communities in southeastern Mexico is threatened by the planting of monocultures.
The film highlights the fight of these indigenous people to protect their way of life and lands from massive deforestation, groundwater table pollution and climate change. We have blogged about this crisis several times recently.
Documentary: Story of a Beekeeper, Episode 1: “Bees Are Fascinating Beings”
The second film we recommend is only 2:54-minutes long, by Slow Food. It is a delightful interview with a young Italian beekeeper. At 32-years old, Ariele Muzzarelli is a nomadic beekeeper in the Piedmont area, and a member of the Slow Food community on Pollinators in the City, Turin, Italy.
Ariele started Apesapicoltura in 2018, as a small beekeeping and honey producing venture. She is always seeking new places her bees will be welcome. They produce chestnut and acacia honey from nectar foraged in the Turin area.
She started her bee journey after a life-changing encounter with an old man in 2015. He spoke kindly about bees; he smiled and was very nice. After telling her about the bee world, he invited her to his apiary. When she opened a hive she experienced a powerful transformative effect as all her senses were impacted. For the first time ever, she saw the swarming bees, heard the deep resonance emanating from the cluster, and smelled the potent scent that is the signature smell of a beehive.
The bees buzzed so loudly that she dreamed of them for three nights. She knew then she would be a beekeeper as she had fallen in love with them. Her decision was also driven by the desire to overcome false fears that were based on a lack of understanding of the bees’ world. As she points out, bees can overcome great challenges. It is humans that prove themselves unable to live in harmony with all other living beings.
You can read Ariele's whole interview here, and become a Slow Food member if you feel strongly about reshaping the food system in a bee-positive way.
The European Union must restore biodiversity, end the use of toxic pesticides, and support farmers and producers transitioning to bee-friendly sustainable agriculture. We can still do this in a better and more natural way!
HOW YOU CAN HELP: sign and share the European Citizens' Initiative “Save Bees and Farmers” to help reach the 1 million signatures goal so these facts can be presented to the European Commission and Parliament.
Bee the change! For the bees!