Living Systems Institute is sponsoring the "Bee Safe Neighborhoods" campaign to create living spaces where honey bees and other pollinators can propagate without the effects of toxic chemicals.
If you are interested in becoming a Bee Safe Coordinator in your neighborhood after reading the information below, please contact us and with who you are, how to contact you and the name of the neighborhood you call home.
" . . . my involvement with Bee Safe Neighborhoods has been nothing short of transformative.
We are elated that we were successful in turning Normal Park, Ypsilanti into the first Bee Safe Neighborhood in Michigan and we have already been invited to canvass an adjacent neighborhood. So onto the next journey. I wonder what it will bring?"
Melissa Sklar, Bee Safe Normal Park, Ypsilanti, Michigan
"We were so fortunate that everyone from the Normal Park neighborhood were open to knowing and learning more and having honest discussion about the issues surrounding the use of pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides. No door was shut in our face, thus our morale never waivered and our committment only strengthened. This journey has also shown me how much the power of grassroots activism can impact a neighborhood, community, and beyond."
Germaine Smith, Bee Safe Normal Park, Ypsilanti, Michigan
What is a Bee Safe Neighborhood?
The goal is to have leaders from as many neighborhoods as possible solicit pledges from their neighbors to stop using systemic poisons. The minimum number of households required for a bee safe neighborhood designation is 75 in a contiguous block. If a neighbor on a particular street does not wish to participate, the boundary lines of the contiguous block will be configured to exclude that household. In other words, every neighbor on every street does not need to participate in order to have a contiguous block. Please see the diagram for an example of how one contiguous block might look. The households not participating are shown in red. Each neighborhood will probably have a unique configuration depending on the participation of neighbors. See more details HONOR ROLL
We will also encourage people to stop using all poisons so a healthy ecosystem can develop wherein all pests become food for their predators. Elimination of poisons will also decrease the toxins that can run off into surface water and accumulate in the soil.
We will ask our neighbors to increase safe habitats for honey bees by landscaping with safe plants (uncontaminated by neonicotinoids or systemics) that can provide pollen and nectar to pollinators through spring, summer and fall. We will inform neighbors about neonicotinoids and systemics found in plants that are available for purchase at chain stores and in many garden centers and plant nurseries.