Water Works

     This post falls more into the category of a positive topic. It combines one of the massive corporations of the world, one of life's most essential resources, and a cute, furry animal: Coca-Cola, water and beavers. According to the website TakePart - which describes itself as "a digital news and lifestyle magazine and social action platform for the conscious consumer" - Coca-Cola is invested in over 200 water projects in communities throughout the world to replenish water in ecosystems that surround its manufacturing plants. This is due to the sheer volume of water used to produce its drinks - about 41 billion gallons per year.

     They are strategically placing beavers in areas where replenishment is needed since beavers are natural engineers and shapers of the landscape. The beavers will make dams and ponds to help sustain ecosystems and water supplies for the people who surround them. Coke's goal is to equalize the amount of its drink output with the amount of its water replenishment by 2020.

    Though I am no supporter of Coke or its products, this demonstrates a concerted, commendable CSR effort on Coke's part.

This photo of the "World of Coca-Cola" museum in Atlanta was taken by Rundvald in 2007 and is public domain.

Post 2 - Save the bees!

Estimates say that 30% of the bee population dies every year.  For farmers who are beekeepers, this means they have additional expenditures of time and resources to replace that population each year in order to keep up with the world's food demand.  The pollinators responsible for the majority of our fruits, vegetables, nuts, and let's not forget honey, have been dying rapidly for several reasons.  The most damaging offenders to bees include herbicides, pesticides, insecticides and the transportation of bees between states to help pollinate areas where there is a lack of pollinators.  Considering herbicides, pesticides and insecticides are used on the majority of our crops, it would seem like bees are doomed.  However, there are ways to support bees surviving and thriving, and everyone from farmers to you and I can play a helpful part.  Primarily, we can advocate for the removal of the aforementioned toxic chemicals in our crops.  (This is also one of the primary issues in the case against genetically modified organisms - GMOs).  Crops without these chemicals are safer for the bees and safer for us.  The Environmental Working Group (EWG) provides constant news on health threats such as these and offers dozens of ways to take political action: www.ewg.org/take-action.  Additionally, those with the space and ability can also plant their own flowers, fruit trees or fruit bushes– free of pesticides, herbicides and insecticides.  That will assure additional, healthy plants to support healthy bees.  Healthy bees means the world can continue to enjoy the literal fruits of their labor.

Produce by Brianna Ehrhart is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Intro. & Bees

For my first post, I want to introduce this blog as one centered on a theme of worldly social and environmental issues.  Not all bad, not all good.  I will post about current, varying topics that I believe are important for everyone to know at least a little about as a citizen of the planet.  I am not a sensationalist; I simply believe in being informed. So, I will try to present information without the typical fear and guilt-inducing tactics ubiquitous in mainstream media. 

One seemingly insignificant, but truly monumental issue currently, is the decline of the honeybee population.  The decline has been massive enough to convince the White House to pass legislation to find ways to save them and research habitat preservation.  The reasons for decline are extensive and complicated – they’ll come in the next post.  For now, I’ll keep it basic by explaining why bees are essential: they are pollinators responsible for one-third of the world’s food supply.  This heavy statement has been cited by various sources, such as in the attached video by SciShow.  This means we have honeybees to thank for our bountiful supplies of fruit and nuts, as well as other foods and plants.  Without them, parts of our food supply would be hugely diminished and scarce.  The decline is already bad enough that, for certain crops, bee colonies are transported to pollinate from different states, and bee keepers all over the U.S. are trying to help make up for the population loss by cultivating more of their own colonies and hives.  Savannah Bee Company is a great grassroots company based in Savannah, Ga. that produces various goods from honey and maintains bee colonies.  They also provide great and fun information on bees: http://savannahbee.com/bee-education/.  NPR also has a collection of news stories on bee population decline and the efforts to reverse it.

Bees are essential and some of the most valuable contributors to our livelihood.  Let’s appreciate them, and in the next post I’ll include insights into how to support them.