THE PLAYBOOK FOR POISONING THE EARTH
by Lee Fang
““Sustainability means doing something for the future from which you may personally never benefit. Giving without receiving reveals the best of our humanity, and is where we need to grow most as a species.
Just because we are born human doesn’t mean we are humane. Most of us must practice and work to develop that muscle.””
SO, WHY ARE WE HERE ?
If all of us tackled just one thing, and put our shoulder to it, there'd be millions of Gandhi's, instead of just the one.
*The most important thing about the neonics discussion is not the fact that neonicotinoids are over 10,000 times stronger than DDT.
*It’s not the fact that they don’t go away and can last 6 years or longer in a flowering tree.
*It’s not even that recent reports show them in Bay Area saplings in the following amounts; 24 parts per billion (ppb) in an Acacia, 44 ppb in a New Zealand Christmas Tree and 860 ppb in a Crepe Myrtle. (Bayer who makes the best selling neonic says it takes 20 ppb to kill a honeybee.)
HOW systemics work is the real story because it explains how the poison gets into a pollinator. When a tree has been injected, soil drenched or sprayed with these products, the poison is in every system of the plant showing up in nectar and pollen, a pollinators food. The poison kills either immediately or later, sub-lethally. Studies not paid for or endorsed by the pesticide industry and its tame academics and researchers tell a sad tale. No dose is safe, even if the pesticide corporations who dictate the entire narrative, declares a bee can survive up to 20 parts per billion of a neonic.. Our lack of birds and flying insects says otherwise. How can any pollinator beat the odds by ingesting poison that is thousands of times stronger than DDT, which is released in the nectar and pollen and which is still in the flower and guttation for six years or longer? The power of these products can best be seen in the lack of beneficial flying insects and the birds who rely on them for food.
Skies that are bare of life is not normal. Healthy pollinators previously flourished in the city because San Francisco used to burst with largely pesticide-free, flowering trees with abundant blossoms almost all year long. We can't afford to bring these trees into the city. Contact me to voice your concerns. Together we'll drive a consumer demand for pesticide free trees for birds, butterflies and bees.
UrbanBeeSF is about more than honey...but the honey!
Every step of the UrbanBeeSF process promotes healthy, sustainable pollination in San Francisco. Pesticide-free flowering ornamental trees, local and diverse nutrition sources and exquisite raw honey are the heart, soul and LONG VIEW of UrbanBeeSF.
Three time winner of a Good Food Award, UrbanBeeSF honey is sourced by the bees from the mature tree canopy of this special city delivering a delicate and boldly complex flavor with notes from the local flowering ornamental trees! Diverse nutrition from bottle brush trees, Eucalyptus, Flowering Gum and new zealand christmas trees. Colorful 'citrus' essence found in backyard Meyer lemon, sunny palms and bright acacia are underscored with a savory 'licorice' finish from the local, wild fennel which local pollinators adore.
Our bees’ well-being always comes first. Captivating delicious craft-made honey is just a lovely gift.
UrbanBeeSF saves most of the honey for the bees helping them to thrive on their own food. They always go into winter with a box or more of their own honey, never sacrificing their wellbeing for financial gain.
San Francisco's CURRENT mature tree canopy creates an oasis of rich, nutritious diversity for butterflies, hoverflies, NATIVE BEES, honeybees, hummingbirds and songbirds. The good health of my bees clearly demonstrates how eating from locally sourced, largely organic and systemic-poison-free trees and plants makes for the highest quality food.
Winner of three Good Food Awards, UrbanBeeSF never uses conventional/commercial/industrial beekeeping practices such as plastic-wax foundation, refined sugar or corn syrup as food replacement, mite pesticides, fragrance or essence oils, chemical mixtures, acids, poisons or antibiotics inside any of our hives. From hive to jar only wood, stainless steel, glass and our amazing bees come in contact with the honey.
Terry Oxford personally oversees every part of UrbanBeeSF with a passion that is spurred by a desire to help the pollinator life system survive.
A tree is a meadow in the sky.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
Bee Advocacy and Activism
UrbanBeeSF’s primary mission is to seed the future with survivor bees and to help people understand that we must stop behaving like nothing else on earth is as important as humans! We have enslaved the honeybee in an industrial agriculture prison and fed her poison, sugar or just starved her as we deliver beehives to chemical-doused, mono-culture almond wastelands. Who wouldn't be susceptible to mites under those unhealthy and unsustainable circumstances?
Bees are the perfect voice to listen to right now as many of us contemplate human survival. The bee is telling us to look critically at our profit motivated farming methods and to hurry and makes changes while we still can. The answers are simple but not easy...we must stop the chemical and pesticide driven Agriculture cycle and understand that we've been duped by industry messaging. Organic plant, tree and food purchasing choices are the way to slow down the massive lobbying power of these corporations. And we must stop the use of all systemic pesticides now...because they are absolute poison, absolutely perfected. The mono-culture aesthetic of chemically-processed plants and industrialized food that we think we can trust is neither healthy nor sustainable. We have normalized an infrastructure that is failing the entire planet.
ROOFTOP Apiaries
UrbanBeeSF collaborates with like-minded restaurateurs and chefs to create rooftop apiaries. Even though these restaurants use our artisanal honeycomb when available, honeybee health, not honey production remains the primary focus. Its an expensive model but UrbanBeeSF requires that whomever we partner with, understands that these tiny laborers of San Francisco deserve to eat their own food. UrbanBeeSF never removes most of the honey from the hive because of the devastating health effects of sugar feeding. Ever on the watch for greenwashing, UrbanBeeSF holds a high standard for hive placement and will only work with those who also chose sustainability over profits.
We believe that some things are sacred and should not be monetized. If the condition of the earth is telling us anything, it is that some things should be simply honored because they are keeping us alive. Some things, like the pollinator life system, are a gift.
To evolve is to be grateful. Be grateful and you'll evolve.