[Pollinator] The Buzz About National Pollinator Week

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The Buzz About National Pollinator Week
by Sara  Bonisteel
on 06/18/12 at 09:00 AM
 
 
_National Pollinator Week_ (http://pollinator.org/pollinator_week_2012.htm) 
 begins today and to get  people thinking about the health of bees and 
other pollinators, _Burt's Bees_ (http://www.burtsbees.com/)  teamed up with 
actress and director Isabella  Rossellini on a series of PSAs, _Burt Talks to 
the Bees_ (http://www.burtsbees.com/wildforbees.html) . 
Bees and other pollinators like hummingbirds and butterflies are 
instrumental  in one out of every third bite of food each of us takes, according to 
Laurie  Davies Adams, the executive director of the _Pollinator Partnership_ 
(http://www.pollinator.org/) , a  non-profit that focuses on the world's 
pollinating animals. 
"People want to do something, they want to help with conservation issues,"  
Adams said at the film's premiere last week. "They're a little confused 
about  what they can do about the big issues like global warming, but they 
understand  bees, they understand butterflies, they understand hummingbirds, and 
they  definitely understand chocolate, coffee, vanilla, strawberries, 
blueberries,  cashews, almonds." 

 
Since 2006, scientists around the globe have been trying to understand 
Colony  Collapse Disorder in the honeybee population, where adult bees in the 
hive fly  off, never to return. Beekeepers have noticed losses of 30 percent 
of their hive  populations annually in some areas. 
"The problem is that everybody hopes that there's a silver bullet, but  
essentially it's like cancer, there's multiple causes," said Christina  
Grozinger, Ph.D., the director of the _Center for Pollinator Research_ 
(http://ento.psu.edu/pollinators)  at  Penn State University. "Each individual colony 
that dies may be dying from  something entirely different. So at this point 
it's thought that it's multiple  factors probably acting in synergy." 
Those factors include exposure to pesticides and several parasites, the 
lack  of genetic diversity among a bee colony, and bee nutrition, which is 
affected by  the destruction of their natural habitats, she said. 
Burt's Bees officials approached Rossellini for the PSAs, after watching 
her  TV shorts _Green Porno and Seduce Me_ 
(http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno/)  for  the Sundance Channel. She wrote Burt Talks to the Bees, and 
stars as  Burt Shavitz, co-founder of the company, as well as the queen Bee, 
a drone bee,  and a worker bee. 
"I'm so honored that my work can be at the service of something so big as  
making people understand the idea of CCD, but also the habits of bees, 
because a  lot of people don't even know about their interesting and crazy life," 
 Rossellini said. 
To help the bees, pollinator advocates urge shoppers to frequent organic  
farms, buy local honey, and plant wildflowers that attract bees and other  
pollinators. The Pollinator Partnership also has _a free BeeSmart app_ 
(http://www.pollinator.org/beesmartapp.htm)  for the Android and iPhone that 
identifies  plants beneficial to the bees in your  area.














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