[Pollinator] KCET - Pollinator Week

Fri Jun 21 17:57:18 PDT 2013

_Food Rant_ (http://www.kcet.org/living/food/food-rant/)  
_Celebrate National Pollinator Week _ 
(http://www.kcet.org/living/food/food-rant/celebrate-national-pollinator-week.html) 

by _Rick  Paulas_ (http://www.kcet.org/user/profile/rpaulas)  
on June 20, 2013 10:19 AM

Photo by _binaryape_ 
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/binaryape/2796662358/sizes/z/in/photolist-5g8Chw-9oj8Fh-9ogiwR-5g4ifp-82LCqj-5aHQMZ-4Sr7QG-acFYyu-4Sm
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q-tZn2H-a8yLAT-7XMh4h-cB9v8q-8szYXf-2hogtn-9pq2Bj-5bN5KL-56m6SY-7XJ1ar-4W5yF
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z7P7-2BkwmN-5dF2zM-84Tx58-2xchzn-5ucjdA-89S1JG-4Sr7nf-4SmTDa/) 

Everyone remembers their first bee sting.  
For me, it was on a family trip when I was 11 years old. (I can date it  
accurately because my friend's dad was exhaustively playing Bruce 
Springsteen's  newest album "Human Touch.") I was climbing a rock wall near a river, 
trying to  get a good grasp on my hold, when all of a sudden what felt like a 
sharp point  of the rock stuck me in my ring finger. I withdrew, forced 
myself to complete  the climb, and by the time I was at the top of the landing my 
finger was the  size of a bratwurst.  
I hated bees that day, and for some time after.  It's a common feeling 
among youngsters who have suddenly been exposed to a  creature that can cause 
that much pain. And unfortunately, it's a fear that not  a lot of people grow 
out of. (Watch any grown adult who's just had their ear  buzzed by a bee for 
proof.) The problem is that, instead of fearing bees, we  need to learn 
their importance and help protect them. Which is the goal of _National 
Pollinator Week_ (htt
p://naturalhistorywanderings.com/2013/06/14/2013-national-pollinator-week-june-17-to-23/) , which started on Monday and  runs through the 
end of the week.  
The biggest thing to understand about pollinators is just where they fit 
into  our own lives. You see, like the rest of us mammals, plants like 
flowers,  cucumbers, and melons need to have certain parts from a male and certain 
parts  from a female in order to reproduce. However, unlike the more mobile 
lifeforms  on the planet, the only way for the male bits and pieces to get 
into the female  bits and pieces is with a little assistance from the 
outside. Enter: The  pollinating creatures that go from plant-to-plant, bringing 
with them the plant  baby-making material. 
But, you probably already knew that, so how about some other vital facts  
about pollinators: 
- 75% of all flowering plants need the help of pollinators to fertilize.
-  An estimated 1/3rd of all of the food and beverages that we consume is, 
in some  way, affected by pollinators. 
- If you're a monetarily-focused individual,  maybe you'd be interested in 
learning that pollinators contribute $20 billion  annually in products to 
our nation's GDP.  
And the worst fact of all:  
- Over the past year, nearly half of all honey bee  hives in the U.S. have 
been destroyed to the continuing mysterious disaster that  is _"Colony 
Collapse Disorder."_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder)  
This is the highest  percentage in recent memory. 
Meaning, if there's one thing to take away from  National Pollinator Week, 
it's that bees might not be as active as usual. One  way to help, then, is 
by taking a _walk to your local garden and checking_ 
(http://www.kcet.org/living/homegarden/container-gardens/manual-pollination-bees.html) : 
Check to see if bees are pollinating your  plants by looking for them in 
the morning hours. If you see bees, there you  go. If you don't, Agrella has a 
helpful tip to pollinate them yourself: "Take  a Q-Tip and swirl it into 
the opening of the male flower, and then swirl the  same Q-Tip in the female 
flower. You should see fruit. The same can be done  with a soft paintbrush, 
or even by just picking off one of the male flowers  and sticking it in the 
female flower manually.
But National Pollinator Week doesn't simply begin  and end with bees. Other 
pollinators that need to get some recognition include  birds, bats, 
beetles, and the lovely butterflies. As far as that last one goes,  in honor of 
National Pollinator Week, tickets to the _Butterfly Pavilion at Rancho Santa 
Ana Botanical Garden_ 
(http://www.rsabg.org/garden-events/581-butterfly-pavilion)   are only two bucks a pop. There, folks of all ages can walk through 
the  butterfly habitat to learn all about their pollinating ways.  
If you can't make it, or if live in a  non-garden-adjacent part of the 
asphalt jungle, you can still help. Shoot out a  link to this post. Tweet out a 
few pollinator facts to your friends. Spread the  _word about CCD and what's 
triggering it_ 
(http://www.kcet.org/living/food/food-rant/the-epa-is-killing-bees.html) . Maybe even  hold a themed potluck dinner where all of food 
comes from pollinators.  
If none of these are striking your fancy, head on  over to _Pollinator.org_ 
(http://www.pollinator.org/)  for some more ideas. The point is, this  week 
is National Pollinator Week. So, let's get on out there and spread the word 
 about pollinating! 
Eat better by  following KCET Food on _Facebook_ 
(http://www.facebook.com/KCETFood) , _Twitter_ (http://twitter.com/#!/KCETFood) ,  and _Tumblr_ 
(http://socalfood.tumblr.com/) .

Laurie Davies  Adams
Executive Director
Pollinator Partnership
423 Washington St.  5th Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94111
T: 415.362.1137
F: 415.362.0176

Follow up on _Twitter_ (http://twitter.com/#!/Pollinators)  and _Facebook_ 
(http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Pollinator-Partnership/48680445464) !
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