[Pollinator] Bees at O'Hare Airport

[Ladadams at aol.com]

Thanks to Jen Boulden for  this:
 
>From GOOD MAGAZINE: 

That buzzing sound  you hear at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport 
could be a jet taking off. Or  maybe it's coming from the 1.5 million bees that 
call the airport home. In May,  the Chicago Department of Aviation partnered 
with a community group to start a  2,400 square foot apiary on-site. Now 23 
beehives are up and running and  are scheduled to yield 575 pounds of honey 
this year.

The project offers  a creative, sustainable, and productive way to use 
otherwise wasted open space  at mega-airports like O'Hare. The bees' new home on 
the east side of the airport  campus had long stood vacant, so it was a 
natural spot for the bee program to  begin. And if that's not enough benefit, 
the beehives provide employment  opportunities for formerly incarcerated 
adults (similar to other projects  that teach prisoners beekeeping.  Sweet 
Beginnings <_http://_ (http:///) www.sweetbeginningsllc.com/> , the  offshoot of 
the local economic development agency that's managing the project,  trains 
felons in the art of beekeeping and the process of making honey, candles,  
and lotions, which are sold under the brand Beeline. O'Hare's shops intend to  
start selling the hyper-local honey products soon. “It is the perfect 
example of  a green business operating and growing in Chicago, while also 
providing  opportunities to those who need a second chance,” said former Chicago 
mayor  Richard M. Daley.

The "airport beekeeping movement" has been growing in  Germany since 1999, 
when scientists realized honeybees could be helpful  for monitoring air 
quality, but O'Hare is the first American airport to get  an apiary. In a way, 
it's a return to the airport's agricultural roots:  O'Hare was founded on a 
former apple orchard, which lives on in the three letter  airport code "ORD."

FULL ARTICLE:
_http://www.good.is/post/bees-enter-the-air-traffic-mix-at-chicago-s-aiport?
utm_campaign=daily_good&utm_medium=email_daily_good&utm_source=headline_link
&utm_content=At%20O%27Hare%20Airport%2C%20Unused%20Land%20Is%20Going%20to%20
the%20Bees_ 
(http://www.good.is/post/bees-enter-the-air-traffic-mix-at-chicago-s-aiport?utm_campaign=daily_good&utm_medium=email_daily_good&utm_source=h
eadline_link&utm_content=At%20O'Hare%20Airport,%20Unused%20Land%20Is%20Going
%20to%20the%20Bees)   
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