<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90716696/everyone-got-so-into-the-idea-of-urban-beekeeping-that-now-there-might-be-too-many-urban-bees?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Top+news%3A&utm_campaign=ATF+Daily">https://www.fastcompany.com/90716696/everyone-got-so-into-the-idea-of-urban-beekeeping-that-now-there-might-be-too-many-urban-bees?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Top+news%3A&utm_campaign=ATF+Daily</a></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<header class="post__header">
<div class="post__header-text">
<ul class="eyebrow">
<li class="eyebrow__item"><time
datetime="2022-01-28T11:00:45Z">01-28-22</time></li>
<li class="eyebrow__item">6:00 am </li>
<li class="eyebrow__item"><a
href="https://www.fastcompany.com/section/world-changing-ideas">world
changing ideas</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 class="post__title"><a class=""
href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90716696/everyone-got-so-into-the-idea-of-urban-beekeeping-that-now-there-might-be-too-many-urban-bees"
title="Everyone got so into the idea of urban beekeeping
that now there might be too many urban bees">Everyone got so
into the idea of urban beekeeping that now there might be
too many urban bees</a></h1>
<div class="">
<h2 class="post__deck">What happens when every company decides
that the sustainable thing is to put a beehive on the roof.
</h2>
<p><img src="cid:part1.0EPoQ2PK.0KH3ma02@umd.edu" alt=""
width="793" height="449"></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="post__poster-wrapper post__poster-wrapper--long ">
<figure class="poster post-featured__poster"><picture><source
media="(max-width: 40em)"></picture></figure>
<div class="post__featured-caption">[Photo: alle/Getty Images,
Lucas Franco/<a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/4tLJHWo0BEM"
rel="nofollow">Unsplash</a>]
</div>
</div>
</header>
<br>
<div>
<p>Urban beekeeping is big business: Alvéole, one company based in
Montreal, <a
href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-01-07/paris-leads-urban-honey-push-as-beekeeping-goes-corporate"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">manages thousands of
beehives</a> on the rooftops of more than 600 office buildings
in North America, at corporations that host bees (and offer free
honey) as an <a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/business/return-to-office.html"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">employee perk</a>.
You can pay other companies to <a
href="https://bestbees.com/residential-beekeeping-services/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">take care of a
beehive in your backyard</a>.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p>The number of hives in cities keeps growing. In Paris, for
example, the number of registered hives has jumped up by a
factor of eight over the last decade. It’s billed as good for
nature. But a <a
href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-021-00046-6"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recent study</a>
that looked at the growth of beekeeping in Swiss cities finds
that the number of bees is now unsustainable: When the bees fly
out to find pollen, there aren’t enough urban flowers to support
them. And the honeybees may be putting pressure on other
pollinators.</p>
<p>In Switzerland, the researchers saw the same trend that’s
happening elsewhere, with strong growth in beekeeping in almost
ever city between 2012 and 2018 (in the Swiss city of Lugano,
which they studied, the number of hives grew 2,387%). Then they
looked at the green space available around clusters of hives. In
each city, there weren’t enough “floral resources” for the huge
number of new bees.</p>
<p>The study doesn’t analyze how the surplus of bees might be
impacting other wildlife, but it does note that honeybees can
negatively impact the number of wild pollinators in an area. In
a place like the U.S., where European honeybees were imported
for agriculture, they <a
href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-problem-with-honey-bees/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">compete with wild
bees</a> and butterflies, which are already at risk for other
reasons, from pesticide use to climate change.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p>Adding more green space and pollinator-friendly plants in
cities would help. But the study suggests that cities also need
to set limits on the proliferation of urban honeybees, with the
number of hives allowed in any particular area limited by the
amount of green space nearby and enough distance between hives.
And companies that are adding bees to make their image
greener—something that some critics have called <a
href="https://ricochet.media/en/3404/beewashing-and-the-business-of-honey-bees"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“bee-washing”</a>—might
want to rethink their plans.</p>
</div>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dr. David W. Inouye
Professor Emeritus
Department of Biology
University of Maryland
Principal Investigator
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory
</pre>
</body>
</html>