It’s officially summer, and that means bees. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, bees are simply a necessity of nature. Think about a world without bees and then include all the fresh fruit and vegetables you love which would no longer exist. Take the next step and think about the animals that eat vegetation which are a part of our food stream. Scary right?

In the process of garnering pollen to feed their larva, bees cross-pollinate plants with the bits of pollen that fall off of them on their way back to their nests. We rely on honey bees for one-third of our food supply, so when honey bees are in danger, we’re all in danger.

Over the last three years, one in three bee hives have died. The main cause of the problem is known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a disease where bees are mysteriously deserting their hives and dying. Scientists have been baffled by the disease but believe that the cause may include viruses, mites, chemical exposure and poor nutrition.

Everyone needs to take notice of the bee’s plight and pitch in to help regain the bee population and ensure our food supply for centuries to come. Hagen Dazs, the ice cream company, is working to raise the buzz about this bee problem through education and a new ice cream flavor devoted to the bees. Each time you purchase a pint of the Vanilla Honey flavor found in your grocery store, you help fund bee research which hopefully will identify a true cause and solution for our tiny buzzing friends.

It may be the middle of summer, but you can still contribute to helping the bees by planning flowering plants which attract and feed bees. Consider what plants are native to your area. If you aren’t sure, contact your local botanical gardens or even your state department of conservation for a botanist or entomologist who can help. For more instructions on how to create check out the Xerces Society for more information.

If you are lucky enough to know where a bee hive resides around your home or local community, don’t smoke it out – protect it! In order to learn more about bees and help in conservation efforts, we are all being asked to speak up and fill out a survey about our local bee hives. If you know of a local bee hive, take a few minutes and help a bee out by filling out this survey.

Bees may have a bad rap, but attracting them doesn’t have to mean having swarms of bees in your yard. Just like we learned from the Bee Movie, bees tend to take stinging pretty seriously since they perish after stinging. So once you bring them to your yard, you can live harmoniously together by being conscious of them, but leaving them to their business and staying out of their way. They won’t bother you if you don’t bother them.

Ultimately, bees’ survival will depend upon us. With the ever increasing use of pesticides, genetically modified crops which kill bees, and continually reduced amounts of flowering plants for bees to visit, their livelihoods and lives are at risk. Consider the bees when you make your produce purchases and buy organic and pesticide free!

Conventional, Organic, Free-Range, To-fur-Key – What to Choose?

For carnivores who aim to be responsible, the meat aisle can be an obstacle course. What brands can you trust? Does “free-range” mean the birds really got to walk around and stretch their wings or just that they had a larger pen with a small patch of grass? What does it mean to be organic? Its time to get to the bottom of this coop.

“Free-range” is supposed to mean “that the bird was allowed access to the outside for a significant portion of his/her life. However, some free-range birds may be housed in open-air barns with limited exits to the outside that are left open for only a short period each day. In other free range situations the birds may spend a large proportion of their day outdoors and are brought in only at night or bad weather.” (WSPA) Free range labeling on poultry is regulated by the USDA but the same claims on red meats and eggs are not regulated. Ask your local farmer about the practices they use.

A term I have never seen on poultry before, but look forward to seeing it on products in the future is “pasture-raised.” “Pastured raised indicates that the meat or eggs came from birds who were provided genuine access to both the outdoors and natural vegetation. Many pasture operations use mobile shelters with perimeter fencing that are located in a pastured area and moved periodically to protect the plant growth and provide the birds with a continuous source of seeds.” (WSPA) Pasture raised labels are not regulated by the government so you need to do your own homework to see what they mean for each farmer.

USDA organic certified products are regulated by the USDA and must meet specific requirements of organic farming. Still, it’s important to know that organically grown products are not entirely free of pesticides or other chemical residues. Organic farming (cattle or produce) is a method aimed at reducing the amount of pesticides and water used, and increasing soil quality.

For a variety of reasons from cost to the requirements of gaining certification, some farmers and producers who use organic farming methods are not certified. The resulting products often carry labels such as “organic but not certified” “pesticide-free,” or “natural.” The definitions and practices used to produce the products under these labels are up to the farmers

All in all, picking the right turkey (or no turkey at all) is a personal decision. If you are just taking the first step in turning your Thanksgiving green, take it slow and learn about the food labels you are likely to see. For those of you ready to take your green a shade darker, find a local turkey farmer who meets your standards. You will not only get a bird who lived a quality life, but also support your community’s farmers.

Ready to go a shade of green darker?

Industrial or factory poultry farming is detrimental, not only to the environment but also to the local community. With more people moving from red meat to poultry, record numbers of birds are being raised and modified specifically to satiate American’s palettes. Turkeys are being bred to have larger breasts and be heavier but their skeletons have not kept pace with these modifications. As a result, these turkeys often have trouble standing up and there are many birds who end up trampled and killed. Sadly, this treatment isn’t the worst of it.

Still, the treatment of animals isn’t the only detrimental thing about factory poultry farming. The environmental impact, is highly detrimental too. The vast majority of grain grown in the U.S. is consumed by farm animals raised for food. In order to make room for the immense amount of land needed to feed the animals we eat, forests, wetlands, and other fragile ecosystems have been transformed into farmland, eliminating wildlife habitats. Unfortunately this isn’t even the worst of it. Livestock farms produce a gigantic amount of waste, much of which ends up in our nation’s waterways. 

The moral of this Thanksgiving story is that its up to you to do your homework and weigh the costs and benefits you care most deeply about. Maybe this is your year to purchase your first Tofurkey.

Image by Flickr user Patti Haskins used under a Creative Commons License.

Environmental Science and Technology will publish the results of what researcher, Heidi Geisz of Virginia Institute for Marine Science, found in her study of Antartic penguins. DDT, banned by the US in 1973 and later by most of the world due to the effects found in animal and human health, appears now in the penguin tissues at the same level as found in the 1970s. In fact, tests reveal a “new DDT” which appears to be DDT broken down having a different chemical signature than the original. How could this happen? DDT and other toxic pesticides were never used in this geographical area. Due to climate change and the melting of the glaciers, pesticides which have been locked into the ice are now being released into the water. This is consumed by the krill (small shrimp- like crustraceans) which make up a large part of the penguin’s diet….and there it is! DDT and other toxic pesticides were carried through the atmosphere, deposited on the ice and snow then absorbed by the microbial organisms and locked into the ice. The movement through the ecosystem is clear.

Goodness! One has to wonder other precious creatures on the earth are being affected by changes in the ecosystem due to global warming and climate change.