The document discusses honeybees and colony collapse disorder. It provides facts about honeybees, their importance as pollinators, and the significant decline in honeybee populations in recent decades. The Rodale Institute's Honeybee Conservancy program is highlighted as an effort to support honeybee health through education and sustainable beekeeping practices.

1. Share the Buzz
Coach Mark Smallwood
Executive Director, Rodale Institute
coach@rodaleinstitute.org
610-683-1400
©2012 Rodale Institute

2. Coach Mark Smallwood
There is no AWAY.
©2012 Rodale Institute

3. Honeybee Facts
 Bees are the only insects that
produce food eaten by humans.
 Honey is the only food that includes
all the substances necessary to
sustain life, including enzymes,
vitamins, minerals, and water.
 The average American eats about
one pound of honey a year.
 To make one pound of honey,
worker bees have to fly 55,000
miles and tap two million flowers.
 The honeybee's wings make about
200 beats per second, creating
their infamous buzzing.
©2012 Rodale Institute

4. Precious Pollinators
Cougle’s delivers
More than 70 of the 100
crops that provide 90% of
the world's food are
pollinated by bees.
U.S. honeybees’ economic
contribution has valued at
nearly $15 billion.
Blueberries and cherries
are 90-percent dependent
on honeybee pollination.
Almonds depend entirely
on the honeybee for
pollination.
©2012 Rodale Institute

5. Precious Pollinators
Disappearing Colonies
The number of honeybee colonies in the U.S. has
been steadily declining for the last seventy years.
1940s Today
7.5 million colonies 2.5 million colonies
Photo © Colorado State University
©2012 Rodale Institute

6. Precious Pollinators
250,000,000,000
250 billion fewer honeybees today than in the 1940s
©2012 Rodale Institute

7. Buzz Kill
CCD = Colony Collapse Disorder
 Prior to 2006…
 In 2006, beekeepers began
reporting unexplained
losses of 30 to 90%of their
hives.
 Since then, winter colony
losses have hovered around
30% each year.
 This is three times more
than what beekeepers
consider “acceptable”
winter losses. (USDA ARS statistics)
©2012 Rodale Institute

8. Buzz Kill
The Usual Suspects
Pesticides
Pathogens
Parasites
Migratory life
Monoculture
GMOs
UFOs
(unidentified pest or disease)
©2012 Rodale Institute

9. Buzz Kill
Researchers are no closer to
identifying a definite cause,
much less a solution.
©2012 Rodale Institute

10. A Sweet Solution
The Honeybee Conservancy at Rodale Institute was started
in 2012 in response to the major health problems that have
decimated the honeybee population in North America.
We believe that individual honeybee stewards
are one of the solutions to this problem.
©2012 Rodale Institute

11. A Sweet Solution
 Classes in sustainable beekeeping practices
 Locally-bred bees from a very calm Italian line
 Hive hosting on our 333-acre organic farm
 Support for beginners through the network
©2012 Rodale Institute

12. A Sweet Solution
Award-winning instructor
Meme Thomas
Director of Baltimore Honey, is a
member of the AFB-American
Federation of Beekeepers, EAS-
Eastern Apiculture Society,
BUMBA Bowie Upper Marlboro
Beekeepers Association, and
HCBA - Howard County
Beekeepers Association. Meme
received the Maryland State
Beekeepers Association 2010
George Imirie Award for
excellence in beekeeping
education.
©2012 Rodale Institute

13. A Sweet Solution
Humane Hive
Participants in our program receive a unique hive that class instructor Meme
Thomas developed: Thomas Hybrid Hive (TH2). This hive is a combination of
a top bar hive and the traditional Langstroth hive, proving a great habitat for the
bees and easy access for honeybee stewards.
©2012 Rodale Institute

14. A Sweet Solution
Best for the Bees
Clean, natural comb
No smoke
No toxic chemicals
Preservation -vs- production
©2012 Rodale Institute

15. A Sweet Solution
Sharing a sip of
water
Providing easily-
accessible, clean,
fresh water at all times
is essential to keeping
honeybees healthy.
©2012 Rodale Institute

16. A Sweet Solution
Males -vs- Females
The larger bee in the
center is one of the
few male members of
the colony. Male
drones have a larger
body and squared-off
rear-end. They have
no stinger and their
only job is to mate
with a queen. In the
fall, they are kicked
out of the hive.
©2012 Rodale Institute

17. A Sweet Solution
Bowing to the Queen
The worker bees
welcome the queen back
to the hive following her
mating flight.
©2012 Rodale Institute

18. “Historical Native Americans, still
clairvoyant, ‘saw’ that spiritual entity that
governs the animal’s life instincts with
complete wisdom. They called this
spiritual being the ‘Great Bear’ or ‘Great
Buffalo.’ We would suggest that when
the ‘Great Bee’ experiences all these
destructive forces, she withdraws from
the physical entity. When the spiritual
center of the colony is thus weakened,
the individual bee flies out and does not
come back…The Great Bee, which
might also be called the group soul,
cannot maintain the integrity of the
colony.”
~ Gunther Hauk
©2012 Rodale Institute

19. What is our sacrifice?
©2012 Rodale Institute

20. Share the Buzz…
Rodale Institute
Honeybee Conservancy
The sweet rewards of humane hive-stewardship.
www.rodaleinstitute.org/honeybee-conservancy
©2012 Rodale Institute