- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
There is no "Planet B."
The Earth is all we have.
Today, April 22, is Earth Day (an annual event launched April 22, 1970) and what a perfect occasion to celebrate a native bee and a native wildflower.
Bombus vosnesenskii,aka the yellow-faced bumble bee, meet the California golden poppy, Eschscholzia californica, the California state flower. (The California dogface butterfly, Zerene eurydice, is the state insect, but shouldn't B. vosnesenskii rank as a runner-up?)
Why do we celebrate Earth Day? "To demonstrate support for environmental protection," according to Wikipedia. "In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be observed on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere."
The late Robbin Thorp (1933-2019) distinguished emeritus professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, always encouraged us to look for, photograph and celebrate bumble bees. A tireless advocate of pollinator species protection and conservation, Thorp was known for his expertise, dedication and passion in protecting native pollinators, especially bumble bees, and for his teaching, research and public service. In his retirement, he co-authored two books Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton University, 2014) and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday, 2014).
Seen any bumble bees lately? Connect with the California Bumble Bee Atlas. It's a project coordinated by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. As its website says: It's a "collaborative community science effort to track and conserve the state's native bumble bee species.? ?This year's field work starts March 15, 2024!" Grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration, the Bureau of Land Management, and other agencies support the project.
Happy E. Day...and Happy B. Day!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's Earth Day, an event we celebrate every April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protections on our troubled planet. This year's theme: "Restore Our Earth."
U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson launched Earth Day on April 22, 1970, with the idea of holding a nationwide environmental teach-in at colleges throughout the country. His idea morphed into Earth Day.
Sadly, however, most college campuses are temporarily or partially closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the face-to-face "teach-ins" are primarily Zoom sessions. Who would have thought? Who could have known?
What to do on Earth Day? Watching bees forage in a pollinator garden seems appropriate to recapture some of Earth Day's magic. Honey bees, responsible for pollinating one-third of the food we eat, continue to gather pollen, nectar, water and propolis every day (weather permitting), not just Earth Day.
Today's favorite fauna and flora: honey bees, Apis mellifera, foraging on rock purslane, Calandrinia grandiflora and packing red pollen back to their colonies. Just call them "temporary occupants" on Planet Earth. But always call them "special."
Read NASA's Nine Reasons We're Grateful to Live on Earth, posted April 21, 2020 for a better grasp of what we have and what we could lose. "The promise of a better life in the mysterious beyond can be seductive. But the fact is the more we learn about out there the more we realize how special it is here. The first astronauts to look from space back at Earth, a 'pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known,' as scientist Carl Sagan once wrote, saw a beautiful, delicate world that is perfectly suited to the bounty of life it supports."
Happy Earth Day!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Doom or gloom? Boom or bloom?
Today is Earth Day, and millions of folks around the world stopped--at least for a moment--to pay tribute to the 46th annual observance. They planted trees, weeded their gardens, greeted pollinators, or just thought about environmental issues.
Every Earth Day, we pay special attention to the tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii). The biannual, native to the Canary Islands, off the coast of Morocco, is a favorite in pollinator gardens, including ours. Seven feet tall and graced with pinkish blossoms splashed with blue pollen, it lives up to its name...tower of jewels.
Then it morphs into a tower of bees. Hello, honey bees, bumble bees, sweat bees and carpenter bees.
As they dive in, will they not only survive but thrive? If we each do our part, we can help the pollinators thrive.
Happy Earth Day!