Killing Bees: Are Government and Industry Responsible?
Short straightforward documentary looking at the effects of pesticides on bees.
Tag: GMO
Honey Bee Murder Mystery Game with lesson plan
As a beekeeper I often have the opportunity to speak to people about why bees are dying or colony collapse disorder (CCD). In response I’ve developed the Honey Bee Murder Mystery Game.
We've put together two versions for different age groups. Choose the one you would like to download here:
2) For teens - adults (pdf 5.3M).
3) See the bottom of this page if you want source files or other variations of the above.
Here is a sample game card from the two different versions:
Watch a slide show of all the cards here.
Age: 10-adult. Time: 30 minutes.
Intro ideas: 5 minutes
- Importance of pollination if not previously discussed or bees and co-operation(it’s a co-operative game).
- Explain they are going to play a murder mystery game. A beekeeper named Billy has lost all his bees and that they will each receive a character card. They will take on the role of this character and talk to each other to discover what happened to the bees.
Hand out game cards: 5 minutes
- There are 16 game cards.
- The first page of 8 game cards should be enough to play the game if it is a smaller group.
- If you make two sets of cards, larger groups can be split into teams and compete to solve the mystery first.
- Each person should get one card. Give them a minute or two to get familiar with their character.
Playing the game: 15 minutes
They will then be asked to work as a group, sharing information with each other to try and solve the mystery.
Conclusion: 5 minutes
Have the students explain their conclusions. Let them know it’s a real phenomenon called CCD and discuss any questions the game raises.
Solution
Groups using the full set of characters should be able to identify stress of transportation on bees, pest/diseases, queen genetics and poor nutrition for bees on mono-crop farms, and pesticide use as contributing factors.
Related resources
More than Honey (FIlm)
Queen of the Sun (FIlm)
5 Things Kids Can Do to Help Pollinators
What You Can Do For Pollinators
Get the Buzz on Honey Bees (Various elementary lesson plans from scholastic)
Understanding the Science: the Impact of Imidacloprid on Bees (web page)
Killing Bees: Are Government and Industry Responsible? (online video)
Thanks
To the Toronto Beekeeper’s Co-op for all I’ve learned with them, Dave Barr for writing the simplified version of the text, Melissa Berney for editing the texts, and all the photographers who made their photo’s available for me to use via a Creative Commons license (see game file for details).
1) The teen-adult version with solid white behind the text (pdf 4.8M). - This might help those having trouble getting readable photocopies.
2) This version has no text on the game cards (pdf 3.8M). - Use this if you'd like to write your own text.
3) This is the ziped PSD file (zip 58M). - Use this if you want to use photoshop to edit the game cards.
4) Game text of kids version - Use this if you would like to translate the game into another language. I will make new graphic game cards from translated text.
The Honey Bee Murder Mystery Game is published under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0. You are free to copy and distribute this work for non-commercial purposes as long as you attribute it to: Shawn Caza of http://www.beekeeping.isgood.ca
French Beekeepers Occupy Monsanto
LinkFrench Beekeepers Occupy Monsanto
Worried for the health of their bees as well as loosing their honey(a court recently ruled that a German beekeepers honey was unfit for human consumption because it contained traces of GMO corn) French beekeepers invaded a Monsanto location demanding an end to GMO crops.
There is a short video of this event in french here.
The following is my translation of a french article about the beekeepers protest at Monsato in France:
Friday a hundred beekeepers occupied the site of American argo-chemical giant Monsanto in Monbéqui for several hours to demand that the government quickly ban GMO corn in France.
The protesters left after the government re-affirmed their commitment to ban growing Monsanto 810.
This ban has been in question since the end of November when the state council had cancelled the suspension of growing GMO corn, a suspension imposed by the government in February 2008.
“The government is committed at the highest level to maintaining the ban on growing Monsanto 810, and notably for the next growing season.” the minister of Ecology told the AFP on Friday.
Olivier Belval, the president of the French National Beekeepers Union reported that a representative of the prefect guaranteed the protesters that a safeguard clause assuring the ban of selling and growing this GMO will be made, as promised in November by Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet the minister of Ecology.
The beekeepers will be received next week by the ministers of Agriculture and Ecology according to Guy Kastler of the Confédération paysanne(Rural Confederation) which was behind this action.
The beekeepers are worried by the risk that their honey will be contaminated by GMO corn and will be declared unsuitable for human consumption according to European policies. They want an immediate government decision, with a decree until the the safeguard clause is put into action.
Some twenty beekeepers huddled in a van were brought onto the site at Monbéqui, where Monsanto carries out corn growing experiments, using the trojan horse technique. They pretended to be a delivery truck, and once admitted the gates were opened to many dozens of others. The beekeepers came from all over the south-west according to journalists of the AFP
Some dressed in white with veils protecting their face brought two hives and smokers into the building before calling the Minister of Ecology by telephone.
“We demand an order banning the sale and growing of Monsanto 810 and a ban of all GMOs that produce nectar or pollen” that could pollute honey, declared Jean Sabench, a beekeeper from Hérault, spokesman for the Confédération paysanne.
Jean Sabench came for the survival of beekeeping, “already in peril”, but also for the survival of the bees, the disappearance of these essential pollinators will have heavy consequences on the environment and agriculture.
The government promised “a new clause that will not be legally attackable” said the minister of Ecology. She said It could be made before the sowing season at the end of February.
The Monsanto site at Monbéqui had been the victim of a reaping operation in 1999 by farmers of the Confédération paysanne.
This occupation is “an unacceptable violation of private property and illegal”, deplored Yann Fichet, directer of institutional affairs for Monsanto-France
According to the French National Beekeepers Union, in 2011 the production of French honey is estimated at around 20 000 tons, similar to that of 2010. But this quantity represents a great decline from 1995 harvests (32 000 tons).