[Pollinator] Write for the Langstroth Stamp

[ladadams at aol.com]

This ezine is also available online at 
_http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2009.12.22.09.43.archive.html_ 
(http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2009.12.22.09.43.archive.html) 

CATCH THE BUZZ 
Langstroth's 200th  Birthday- A Science Celebration   
____________________________________
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Two hundred years after his birth in 1810,  Rev. Lorenzo Lorraine 
Langstroth, known as the “Father of American Beekeeping,"  will be honored, thanks, 
in part to the growing buzz of the sustainability  movement. Langstroth's 
discovery of "bee space" and his invention of the  movable-frame honey bee hive 
will be celebrated with a national network of  exhibits, workshops and 
seminars and, with your help, perhaps a commemorative  
U.S. postage stamp as  well. Langstroth was employed as a tutor, a minister 
and a schoolmaster in  Connecticut, Massachusetts and  Pennsylvania in the 
1830s and  1840s. Fascinated by their honeycomb, he began his beekeeping 
hobby with "two  stocks of bees in common box hives." Before long he was 
exploring  
the subject of  beekeeping in depth. He observed his bees and sought to 
understand their ways in  order to build better hive boxes which would allow 
him to combat the destructive  wax moths, and collect surplus honey without 
harming the bees or damaging their  wonderful honey comb.  
This is the essence of the scientific method. Those who might think that  
Langstroth was an unlikely scientist would be misunderstanding the role of  
science in our lives. The scientific method involves experiencing the world 
in  which we live, responding to the curiosity that naturally resides inside 
us,  devising a method of observing and recording, testing and confirming  
our expectations,  and evaluating the results we achieve. It is available 
and valuable to each and  every one of us, just as it was to Langstroth. In 
the words of Thomas D. Seeley,  Ph.D., Professor of Biology at Cornell 
University’s Department of Neurobiology  and Behavior, “Without Langstroth's 
invention of the movable-frame hive, I'm  sure that the honey bee would not have 
become the best studied insect on the  planet.”  
Langstroth’s efforts gave us a way to raise large quantities of bees,  keep 
them healthy and collect their honey in a truly sustainable way, without  
destroying their home. We all owe him a debt and the year 2010, his 200th  
birthday year is a great time to start repaying that debt in ways that benefit 
 us all.  
The Down to Earth Project of the Science Friday Initiative • 4 West 43rd  
Street, NY, NY 10036  
Step One in  repaying our debt to Langstroth will be the study and 
appreciation of his  efforts and what those efforts have yielded. Throughout the 
year 2010, the Down  to Earth Program will be developing and coordinating a 
network of national  workshops, exhibits and gatherings to teach and learn 
about the considerable  science connected with the honey bee. There is so much 
more to what we will be  doing in the next year to celebrate Langstroth's 
birthday, which I will describe  at a later date. But I don't want to conclude 
this introduction before  explaining Step Two.  
Step Two in repaying the debt we owe Langstroth would be to convince the  
U.S. Postal Service that we all deserve a commemorative postage stamp created 
in  honor of his 200th birthday. It is my hope that the beekeeping 
community, anyone  who enjoys honey, and everyone who appreciates all the foods we 
eat which would  not be available without the work of the honey bee, will 
write a letter or sign  a petition encouraging the U.S. Postal Service to honor 
Langstroth in this way  at this special time.  
Please spread the word. A flood of letters is  necessary to convince the 
Postal Service how important Langstroth is to  Americans across the country, 
and how a commemorative stamp would help him  achieve the recognition he has 
so far been denied. The stamp is especially  important at a time when 
honeybees are threatened by colony collapse disorder,  and people all over the 
country, even in urban areas, are helping out by  embracing beekeeping. Get 
everyone you know on board the postage stamp campaign,  and have them tell 
their friends.  
The U.S. Postal Service Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee meets in  
January 2010, so please write a letter today. We need a pile of letters waiting  
for them when they arrive at their meeting. Letters sent directly to the 
Postal  Service will be most effective. Below, please find the address to which 
people  should send those letters. For those wishing to include their names 
on petitions  which I will be preparing and submitting, as well as anyone 
who wishes to let me  know they support this project, please send an email to 
me at LLL200 at scifri.org and include your Zip Code so that we may  know the 
breadth of our support. Or Write To: Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee  c/o 
Stamp Development, U.S. Postal Service 1735 North Lynn St., Suite  
5013Arlington, VA 22209-6432  
The Down to Earth Project of the Science Friday Initiative • 4 West 43rd  
Street, NY,  NY 10036
 





Laurie Davies Adams
Executive  Director
Pollinator Partnership 
423 Washington Street, 5th  floor
San Francisco, CA  94111
415-362-1137
LDA at pollinator.org

_www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 

_www.nappc.org_ (http://www.nappc.org/) 

National Pollinator Week is June 21-27, 2010. 
Beecome  involved at _www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 
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