I recently discovered there is a day for bees.

World Bee Day was created by Slovenia and endorsed by 115 UN members. It aims to create awareness of the “significance of bees and other pollinators for our survival.”

You can what Australia’s Governor-General, His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd) has to say about the importance of bees here.

And in case you should wonder why you should care, John reminds us that a single bee makes only one half of a teaspoon of honey in its’ life time! They pollinate about 80% of the wildflowers, and their native habitat in some places have declined by up to 97%. There were about 20,000 species of bees, and about a quarter of those have gone extinct.

This is partly due to habitat loss, and indiscrimate use of pesticides, weather events such as fires and floods, and a reduction in food and nesting sources due to the previous three factors.

If we lose the bees, we lose the plants.

In a previous bee-related post, I mentioned not using pesticides, growing more old fashioned plants, not keeping your garden too tidy, leaving water and mud around, eating organic food and honey from beekeepers.

You could also learn more about them, change the way you garden, use natural methods of pest control, and think about how you can change to minimise your impact on climate change.

World Bee Day for 2022 is May 20, so look out for local Bee related activities you can do with your family (like Farmer’s Markets and open days) this weekend.