Whole Foods Markets Wipes Instagram Clean To Support Honeybees & National Pollinator's Week

EcoWatch explains why it's critical to protect endangered species, citing, for example, the rusty patched bumble bee species that has declined by 87 percent in the last 20 years,  disease, climate change, pesticides, habitat loss and intensive agriculture.

“We launched the Give Bees A Chance campaign because kids are often taught to be afraid of bees, but the role they play in our ecosystem is imperative and deserving of our respect and protection,” explains Nona Evans, president and executive director of Whole Kids Foundation. “One of the best ways we can teach kids about bees is through educational beehives at their schools, where they get an up-close look into the world of pollination.”

Eye | Blake Little Honey People | Vertical Farming In Newark, NJ | Honey Harvest Revolution

Blake Little’s Super Sweet Art Photos

Blake Little’s Honey-Covered ‘Preservation’ People AOC Body Beat

American artist Blake Little’s show ‘Preservation’ is at LA’s Kopeikin Gallery until April 18, 2015. Moving away from photographing the ‘beautiful people’, Little is focused on skin and the human body in a vast array of subjects covered with buckets of honey. This diverse crowd of human shapes and skin colors evokes both sensuality and drama, as if frozen in time by the sweet goo.

IndieGoGo: Flow Hive Honey On Tap Directly From Your Beehive

Aussie father and son team — Stuart and Cedar Anderson — are revolutionizing honey harvesting with their new invention described as a ‘beekeepers dream’. The revolutionary new hive allows beekeepers to harvest honey without opening the hive, making it much easier for people and very much better for the bees, who are no longer disturbed during the harvest. The IndieGoGo film is very educational.

Although the campaign won’t close until April 5, it is already the most successful crowdfunding campaign launched outside the US on any platform. Today the campaign has raised $6,135,833 against a goal of $70,000.

Note that not everyone thinks the new invention in a good idea for bees. For an alternative point of view, read Going Against The Flow: Is The Flow Hive a Good Idea? at Milkwood.

Beeutiful Airport Eco News

Beekeepers Bob Redmond, John Woodworth and David Feinberg examine a hive at the Sea-Tac Airport in Washington state.

Bob Redmond, a beekeeper and executive director of the nonprofit The Common Acre, helped bring the idea to Seattle’s Sea-Tac airport after reading about a similar project at Chicago’s O’Hare. Sea-Tac helped get things going with a small grant and a 50-acre space. Redmond and his team now oversee 25 hives.

Redmond explains that the airport honey tastes ‘wild’ and ‘kind of woody and grassy’ compared to backyard honey that is typically ‘sweeter and more fruity’. The Common Acre beekeepers run an art exhibit in the airport terminal and sell honey in a shop. With all the focus on honeybees, Redmond reminds us that there are 4000 different species of bees.

For Redmond, the project isn’t just about bees, but is representative of how cities can best use their empty spaces to support urban agriculture as a whole.

We’re looking at increasing urban development and decreasing land availability, so we have to say, what is available? And are we really going to plant it all with grass?” he said. “Or are we going to plant something that can make a difference? via

Aerofarms Vertical Farm Comes To Newark, NJ

A superb new business is coming to Newark, NJ’s ‘Makers Village’ redevelopment project. Located in Newark’s ‘Ironbound’ neighborhood in a converted steel factory, AeroFarms will open the world’s largest vertical farm with plans to produce two million pounds of pesticide-free baby leafy greens and herbs each year.

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Eye | Natural Artistry From Nunzio Paci & Edouard Martinet | Man As Tree

The Legend of Lilith

In Jewish folklore, from the 8th–10th century Alphabet of Ben Sira onwards, Lilith becomes Adam’s first wife, who was created at the same time (Rosh Hashanah) and from the same earth as Adam. This contrasts with Eve, who was created from one of Adam’s ribs. The legend was greatly developed during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadic midrashim, the Zohar, and Jewish mysticism. For example, in the 13th century writings of Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob ha-Cohen, Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she coupled with the archangel Samael. The resulting Lilith legend is still commonly used as source material in modern Western culture, literature, occultism, fantasy, and horror. via Wiki

GlobeTracker

Journalism Ethics On Covering China

Why journalists should be free speech partisans BoingBoing

Following on the New York Times’s decision to continue its critical coverage of China, despite the Chinese government’s retaliation against it, Dan Gillmor calls on journalists and news organizations to abandon the pretense of “neutrality” and take a partisan stand for free speech in questions of censorship, surveillance, net neutrality, copyright takedown, and other core issues of speech in the 21st century.

More reading: Opinion: A Response To President Xi Jinping New York Times

DesignTracker

Sauna For Sensualists

Canada’s Partisans Design Group brings a curvaceous sensuality and organic beauty to traditional sauna design with this 800-square-foot structure nestled on the shores of Lake Huron. Health and wellness permeate every cedar tile segment, inviting us to sink deeply into the nurturing environment and splendid views. View more images at My Modern Met.

Kickstarter Bee App

A Gorgeous App for Getting To Know the World’s Bees Wired

Filmmaker Callum Cooper and Ana Tiquia are raising money on Kickstarter for 1,000 Bees, a free interactive app that examines 1,000 bee species. The effort hopes to inform and educate us about the world of bees and also discuss their threatened status.

 

AOC has a long history of writing about the endangered status of our bees, most recently in early November.

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