The Urban Beekeeping Laboratory and Bee Sanctuary, Inc. is a Boston-based, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization on a mission to improve bee health. By supporting bees, we can increase food security for people across the globe. Our campaign is to raise $150,000 total by the end of 2019. These funds go directly to our research to improve bee health.
Anyone who eats food, needs bees. As pollinators of over 70 fruit and vegetable crops that we humans rely upon, bees contribute over $15 billion to the United States economy annually. That amount scales up to $100 billion globally each year. Honey bees, Apis mellifera, in particular are relied upon for scientific research, providing us with information about the greater environment. However, these are just one species of nearly 20,000 bee species worldwide.
Pollinators are struggling in both agricultural and wild environments. There have been a wide range of theories blaming pesticides or fungicides, migratory beekeeping practices, climate change, mono-cultured landscapes and habitat loss, and an array of honey bee pathogens. . Within the beekeeping community some have begun to rename the epidemic “multiple stress disorder,” as it is clear that a combination of many stressors on the bees have made it difficult for their populations to succeed.
