Wild New Jersey Exclusive: Bee My Honey film event attracts students

 
Rutgers students bring their honeys to "Bee My Honey" two weeks ago to learn about the mysterious disappearance of New Jersey honeybees.  In this photo, NJ Beekeepers Association Tim Schuler with his son, who is wearing a "beard" of honeybees.
Photo Credit: Kaitlin Fischer


For a Valentine’s celebration, Rutgers University students brought their sweethearts to “Bee My Honey, a lecture and film event that educated about the ongoing issue with NJ honeybees and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).  In 2006, beekeepers and farmers noticed that honeybees mysteriously began disappearing from their homes, causing the entire colony to die off.  No one knows why and researchers are tossing around various reasons, but have not found conclusive results.  

One out of three Americans depends on honeybees to pollinate crops like cucumbers, almonds, carrot seed, melons, apricots, cherries, apples, seed alfalfa, cranberries, and much more.

Around 100 students attended “Bee My Honey” in honor of Valentine’s Day and the honeybees.  Speakers included NJ Beekeepers Association representative William Coniglio, NJ State Apiarist Tim Schuler, and native pollinator Rutgers professor Rachael Winfree. Hosted by Rutgers Students for Environmental Awareness (SEA), the event included a honey tasting, ice cream from Haagen Dazs, Green Mountain Coffee, Lara bars, organic milk and chocolate.

SEA President Mayble Abraham was excited about Bee My Honey event and thought it was successful, “Our club strives to raise awareness about today’s environmental issues and I am happy to see so many students here tonight willing to learn.  Hopefully, they will spread the word about honeybees and CCD to others.”  
The club encouraged students to check out honeybee research centers such as the USDA Bee Research Lab, to share a funny honeybee dance video with friends, and to hold fundraisers to raise money towards finding the cause of and solution to CCD. There are more than 300 unique kinds of honey the United States. In general, lighter colored honeys are mild in flavor, while darker honeys are usually more robust in flavor.
Rutgers SEA is a student-run organization that motivates and inspires individuals to help protect, conserve, and clean up the environment.  They host film showings and run campaigns like the current recycling campaign they have in which they are collecting bottle caps to be recycled in Aveda hair product containers. 
Share |

Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 3/9/2010 7:00 AM
Categories: WNJ Exclusives
Tags: honey production Bee keeping honeybees
 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this post
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments
  • No comments exist for this post.
Leave a comment

Submitted comments are subject to moderation before being displayed.

 Name

 Email (will not be published)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.