We need bees for more than just their honey. Seedbombs initially designed to green abandoned spots in urban areas are now being used as a tactic to save honey bees.
Most of the nutritious or high-health value food like fruits, veggies and nuts can grow mostly because of contribution from the honey bees. Believe it or not, seventy out of the top 100 human food crops, which supply about 90 percent of the world’s nutrition, are pollinated by bees, said Greenpeace scientists who have been campaigning to save bees from the colony’s winter die-off and habitat loss.
If you are a guerrilla gardener, you may have thrown a few seedbombs in your neighborhood to grow wildflowers. These organic peat-free clay balls mixed with compost, fertilisers and seeds can germinate and grow in whichever terrain you throw them on, and they are bird, bees and butterfly friendly.
A California-based company Seedles is using seedbombs as a tactic to save bees in crisis. Their goal is to grow 1 billion bee-friendly wildflowers with the help of colorful seed balls, a project they call “Grow the Rainbow.”
Converting more farmers to ecological practices and thereby greatly reducing the use of bee-killing pesticides of course can save bees from a worldwide bee colony collapse. For city-dwellers like you and I, throwing seedbombs to increase urban nectar sources for our beloved honey-bees seems to be what we ought to do. Next time you seedbomb your neighbourhood, try to think of the little bees that you are helping to save!
