Bees and Bugs for Biodiversity
THE ROLE OF POLLINATORS AND EATING OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE TO PRESERVE GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY
Sustainable Development Goal #15
Follow the tips provided here and check out the linked resources to learn more about how you can support thriving biodiversity and SDG 15.
For over a decade I have mentored social entrepreneurs, many in the food related businesses with a social and environmental mission. When I chose BIODIVERSITY as the topic of the month for September 2020, I thought of two of these social enterprises: Elevated Honey and Farms for Orphans.
Both are making efforts to impact the lives of people in places facing extreme poverty and environmental conditions - one in Western China and the other in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). One is focused on honey, the other primarily insect larvae.
When I write about any topic, I start researching one aspect and then discover a dozen additional angles. The work of these two women expose global crises and systemic challenges related to food fraud (for example, fake honey is more common than you might think), poor land management, corruption, hunger, and just a general lack of knowledge in how food systems and food supply chains work.
The common theme here, and with much of the conversation about biodiversity, is how the evolution of the food system to accommodate 9 billion+ people has favored approaches that are detrimental to our food supply, to biodiversity, and to human and planet health. This is an opportunity to highlight the work and insights of two amazing specialists, along with a few "how you can help" tips.
ELEVATING THE HONEYBEE
First, let's talk pollinators. Why is this so important? Well, lots of reasons but in the event you are not the typical sustainability type: ONE THIRD (!!!!) of the food we eat is dependent on pollinators! And lest you think I'm referring to some exotic fruit in some part of the world you may never visit, the foods at risk include coffee, cocoa, tomatoes, apples…. pretty basic stuff that most of us would not want to live without!
Watch the full interview with Katrina to learn more about pollinators and biodiversity.
Katrina Klett is the CEO of Elevated Honey Co, a company working with traditional mountain beekeepers in southwestern China and connecting them with urban Chinese consumers. According to Katrina, "Beekeeping is an environmentally beneficial activity that actually increases food security and creates a really lucrative product in places where other market-based activities might not be possible." The farmers she trains and supports are in rural areas where many, men in particular, have left their villages to move to cities and work in factories. This has negative consequences on the family dynamic and village life. Elevated Honey provides them a viable economic alternative.
Katrina's interest in beekeeping goes beyond her work in China. Although she's resided there for nearly a decade, her roots are in a family of beekeepers from the US, she is doing advanced research in honeybee health, involved in global thought leadership initiatives for beekeeping and honey production, and she's passionate about protecting bees at the backyard level.
A couple of years ago, Katrina spoke at SXSW the demise of pollinators and her personal vendetta against the American lawn. I remember finding her comments about the American lawn both hilarious and shocking. Shocking because I had just never thought about the role our constantly mowed and sprayed lawns play in biodiversity.
In the interview in the video on this page, you can hear more from Katrina about the importance of pollinators (it's a casual chat - me at 7am, pre-coffee, and her from a train station in China, waiting for an evening departure with her family).
In case you are not aware, there have been major collapses in bee populations in recent years. Katrina explains why in the video above, or you can read more HERE and HERE.
IN THE NAME OF SIMPLICITY, WE ARE RECOMMENDING THREE KEY THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HELP POLLINATORS THRIVE:
Design your personal space to be pollinator friendly.
Google your local beekeeping club or apiary group to learn more. Check out these top resources: Bee City USA (or find a similar in your country) and also Xerces Society which offers simple steps you can take to make a difference. An example that Katrina shares is the declining population of the Monarch butterfly in the Midwestern United States and Canada. Millions of acres of land have been converted from biodiverse plant life to monoculture crops (e.g. corn) so the Monarch's main food supply, Milkweed, has disappeared.
If you live in an area where pollinators are in danger, find out what they like and plant some of that in your flower bed or on your apartment balcony. But be ware!! Only by organic seeds or seeds and plants from nurseries that have good anti-pesticide policies. Many mainstream garden centers sell seeds that have been coated with pesticides that are highly toxic to bees!
Support local organic and sustainable agriculture.
One significant practice negatively impacting pollinators is the heavy usage of pesticides in the vast majority of farming. This is a challenging topic because without pesticides we might lose massive amounts of the monoculture crops that much of our society relies on for daily sustenance. The key here is to have a systems view of these challenges (how each part of the system creates benefits or risks for other parts) and solve them with stakeholders representing more than just the corporate grower's viewpoint. And over time, we must shift to a healthy, more biodiverse diet, so we are not so dependent on just a handful of crops.
Organic and free-range farm practices are more conducive to pollinator health because the land itself is healthier and these practices tend to promote growth of plants, such as alfalfa, which pollinators love. Sometimes people argue that the prices of organic and grass-fed food is too high. Think of that extra price as a down payment on future cups of coffee or apple juice.
Photo courtesy of Elevated Honey Co
Katrina emphasis the fact that beekeepers are looking for local farms that are safe and healthy for their bees so the more you support those, the better. Find them at the local farmers markets (where you can also speak to them about their bee friendly practices) and ask your favorite local restaurants about the farms where they source their ingredients.
Buy only pure, real honey!
Combat the global fake honey practice, which is perfectly legal. If you would like to connect with a beekeeper near you, visit Bee Culture’s Find a local beekeeper page (for North America). Remember, you get what you pay for and if you are buying cheap honey off the shelf of a typical grocery story, especially if the “honey” has been imported from China, there may be very little actual honey in the bottle. It’s doesn’t have to be comb honey, as pictured here, but do check the authenticity of what you are buying. Depending on your region of the world, there may even be a certification that verifies the purity and quality of the product.
Bonus Tip: Scale it up!!
Most importantly, take these recommendations and use your corporate influence to make choices that can have an even bigger impact than your individual choices.
Request pollinator friendly landscaping services and suggest native plants that attract pollinators at the workplace.
Ask corporate caterers to serve menus that support biodiversity (Read more about that here).
Install a rooftop garden (lots of energy efficiency and storm water management benefits to this too) and have an area for beehives. You can even collect the honey!
Establish a corporate policy against pesticides that harm pollinators and demand only pure honey.
FARMING FOREST FOODS
I am a fairly adventurous eater. There's not much I don't like or won't eat. I've traveled a fair amount and eaten some pretty interesting things. But I must admit that when I started working with Amy Franklin, Founder of Farms for Orphans, it took a while to not be grossed out by the photos and concept of eating bug larvae. I knew this was my privileged, limited, Western view and I needed to just get over myself!
Photo courtesy of Farms for Orphans
One day I asked Amy, "do people really eat these things? I mean do you eat them when you visit the DRC?" And Amy quickly and emphatically responded "absolutely!" Then she described how it's her favorite thing when she goes on her visits and how they're full of natural fats so you don't even need butter or oil to cook them. "Aurora, you'd love them!" I believe her and promised that one day I would go to DRC with her to eat a plate of palm weevil larvae, prepared chef's choice.
What I learned from Amy is that these larvae are among a list of "forest foods" (along with mushrooms and snails) which are foraged and often considered delicacies. They are incredibly high in protein, calcium, iron, and micronutrients vital to child development, which is why Amy's organization is helping orphanages and young entrepreneurs farm these larvae indoors, in urban environments. This provides them with high-quality, nutrient-dense food that is easily available and not dependent on or disrupted by unstable food supply chains in the regions.
And what working with Amy has also helped me realize is that my limited, Western view of food can have a damaging impact on global food systems. The Western diet that consists of high levels of beef and limited variety in agriculture has global ripple effects. In central Africa, much like in the Amazon and other regions of the world, large swaths of forest are being cleared (usually burned) for beef cattle production, to satisfy the world's appetite for meat. Similar situations have occurred when land is cleared for palm oil, corn, and other crops. When this happens, we lose biodiversity.
