Posts tagged ‘environment’
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“Yes Bee Can!”
Everyone is jumping on the beekeeping bandwagon, even the White House!
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Mosquitoes Not a Big Fan…
If you find yourself bugged by mosquitoes this summer, why not try a house fan instead of chemicals to keep them at bay? The reasons behind this repellent may surprise you.
From the New York Times:
Studies have found that wind is an effective method against mosquitoes and other airborne pests. The reason seems obvious: it prevents them from circling and landing on you, like a windstorm keeping a plane from its descent. But that is not entirely the case. A fan dilutes and disperses the carbon dioxide you exhale. Carbon dioxide is one of the major chemicals that attract mosquitoes. The wind from a fan also cools you off. Sweat, lactic acid and body heat attract mosquitoes — factors that a fan can help minimize.
For more ideas on how to ward off bloodsuckers the non-toxic way, Lifehacker has some handy tips.
Image: “Am I attractive?” (shown at Pestival 2009), a collaboration between artist Susana Soares and Dr. James Logan’s team from Rothamsted Research, UK, illustrating how certain body chemicals attract mosquitoes. Dr. Logan hopes that his team’s research will help develop safe, naturally-occurring insect repellent as well!
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Hugh Raffles on Urban Beekeeping
Hugh Raffles (author of the excellent Insectopedia) writes an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times praising urban beekeeping.
Please stop whatever you’re doing and buy his great book Insectopedia now!
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German Airports Use Bees to Monitor Air Quality
Bees have been helping airports in Germany monitor their air quality. The honey is tested regularly for toxins, and after turning up clean, it’s bottled and given away as gifts.
From The New York Times:
Volker Liebig, a chemist for Orga Lab, who analyzes honey samples twice a year for the Düsseldorf and six other German airports, said results showed the absence of substances that the lab tested for, like certain hydrocarbons and heavy metals, and the honey “was comparable to honey produced in areas without any industrial activity.” A much larger data sampling over more time is needed for a definitive conclusion, he said, but preliminary results are promising.
(Image: Walter Klumpp, beekeeper in charge of Düsseldorf airport bees.
© Andreas Wiese/Düsseldorf International Airport) -
Celeb Bug Eating Endorsement
Salma Hayek tells Letterman what all of us knew all along — that eating the right bugs can be good for your health and the planet!
Yes, it is a well known fact that if we harvested bugs rather than cattle, we would not only solve the obesity problem (protein no fat), we would also solve the deforestation problem (due to the growing global need for meat).
(Try here for more information on Entomophagy)
