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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/opinion/07Raffles.html?scp=1&sq=honey%20bees&st=cse">Click
this Link</a> to view the article online or copy and paste this link in your
browser: <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/opinion/07Raffles.html?scp=1&sq=honey%20bees&st=cse">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/opinion/07Raffles.html?scp=1&sq=honey%20bees&st=cse</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>Sweet
Honey on the Block<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></nyt_headline></h1>
<h6><b><font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:7.5pt'><nyt_byline>By
HUGH RAFFLES<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h6>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'></nyt_byline><nyt_text><nyt_correction_top></nyt_correction_top>FOR
the first time in more than a decade, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New
York</st1:place></st1:State>’s beekeepers are claiming their summer
perches on the city’s rooftops. Bowing to a citywide campaign, the
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently <a
href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/bring-on-the-bees/?emc=eta1"
title="City Room posting on lifting of bee ban">removed honeybees from the
Health Code’s register of “venomous insects”</a> and other
prohibited animals. Not surprisingly, the New York City Beekeepers Association
saw a sizable bump in enrollment for its spring classes. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Yet
without support from City Hall, it’s doubtful that we can return to
anything like the pre-ban era, when hives could be found at city schools, <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/nyregion/21ritual.html"
title="Times article on beekeeping">on the roof of the American Museum of
Natural History and even inside Radio City Music Hall.</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
benefits of urban beekeeping are substantial. Despite the conventional view of
the city as a slough of pollution, urban honey is likely to have significantly
less chemical residue than commercial honey made beyond the boroughs. This is
partly due to the high levels of pesticides in commercial agriculture and
partly because small-scale beekeepers tend to use fewer drugs in the care of
their hives than commercial operators. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Urban
honey also has the potential to be a godsend for New Yorkers with allergies.
Although the scientific studies are still lacking, there’s plenty of
anecdotal evidence that the pollen in local honey helps people develop defenses
against local allergens. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Then
there’s the health of the city. Take the honeybees of East New York
Farms!, an organization of urban farmers and neighborhood farmers’
markets. These <st1:place w:st="on">Brooklyn</st1:place> bees pollinate crops
for the entire neighborhood. They aren’t just making honey: they’re
building community, creating income and employment and maintaining vital urban
green space. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Local
honey will benefit the health of the planet as well: minor transportation
costs, no-fuss manufacturing (courtesy of the bees), minimal processing, simple
recyclable packaging and centralized retailing provide a model of effective,
low-carbon production and distribution. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Beekeeping
isn’t as daunting as one might think. The humans require a bit of
training, but bees are famously self-sufficient, needing little more than the
right location, a supply of clean water, some feeding in spring and fall and a
weekly inspection throughout the summer. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Nevertheless,
there are still significant obstacles to city beekeeping, and it’s
uncertain that, without the government’s help, it will reach beyond a
relatively limited stratum of committed New Yorkers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>For one
thing, unless you own your building, your landlord has to approve the
hive’s installation, and he has to feel confident about the reactions of
the tenants and the roof’s ability to support a 250-pound hive box. Then
there are the costs: around $250 per hive, plus about $200 for the bees, the
protective suit and other equipment. And even though the image of bees has
softened in the wake of colony-collapse disorder, popular fear of bees is
ever-present. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>So what can
City Hall do? For starters, like other cities in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United
States</st1:country-region> and overseas, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State> could support urban beekeeping
through small grants, through tax incentives for both beekeepers and building
owners, through public education programs and by getting hives into city
schools as educational and perhaps fund-raising tools. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Beekeeping
could also be promoted as a part of <a
href="http://www.mbpo.org/uploads/foodnyc.pdf" title="PDF of FoodNYC plan">FoodNYC,</a>
a plan devised by Scott Stringer, the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Manhattan</st1:place></st1:City>
borough president, to support grassroots efforts like green rooftops and urban
farming. These efforts are already altering the ecology and economy of the city
in small ways; with the right citywide support, they could have a far greater
effect. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>As anyone
who has studied a beehive knows, it’s an ordered, self-sufficient world,
a reminder that nature is always in our lives, even in the middle of the city.
And there is nothing quite like your first open-air taste of fresh, local
honey, sparkling with flavor, straight from the source. More New Yorkers should
get that experience. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<nyt_author_id>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Hugh
Raffles is an anthropologist at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">New</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">School</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> and the author of
“Insectopedia.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</nyt_author_id><nyt_correction_bottom>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></nyt_text>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:38.25pt'><font size=2
face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>Sunny
Boyd</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>Pollinator Partnership</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on"><font size=2
face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>423
Washington St.</span></font></st1:address></st1:Street><font size=2
face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>,
5th Floor</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=2
face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>San
Francisco</span></font></st1:City><font size=2 face="Century Gothic"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94111</st1:PostalCode></span></font></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>t. 415.362.1137</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>f. 415.362.3070</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><a href="mailto:sun@pollinator.org"><font
size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>sun@pollinator.org</span></font></a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><a href="http://www.pollinator.org">www.pollinator.org</a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Century Gothic"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt'>Our future flies on the wings of pollinators.</span></font></i></em> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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