Indiegogo is committed to accessibility. If you have difficulty using our site, please contact support@indiegogo.com for assistance or view our accessibility notice by clicking here

This campaign is closed

Bee Safe Boulder: Creating a Safe Home for Bees

Saving the bees, one neighborhood at a time.

You may also be interested in

Closed
Closed
Closed
Closed
Closed

Bee Safe Boulder: Creating a Safe Home for Bees

Bee Safe Boulder: Creating a Safe Home for Bees

Bee Safe Boulder: Creating a Safe Home for Bees

Bee Safe Boulder: Creating a Safe Home for Bees

Bee Safe Boulder: Creating a Safe Home for Bees

Saving the bees, one neighborhood at a time.

Saving the bees, one neighborhood at a time.

Saving the bees, one neighborhood at a time.

Saving the bees, one neighborhood at a time.

Bee Safe Boulder
Bee Safe Boulder
Bee Safe Boulder
Bee Safe Boulder
1 Campaign |
Boulder, United States
$2,213 USD 30 backers
8% of $25,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

The Problem:

Bees are in trouble, and so are we.

Since the early years of this century, bee populations have been declining in unprecedented numbers. While historical stressors like weather, parasites, and disease may play a role, the loss of healthy habitat and widespread use of poisons called "neonicotinoids" are playing a role that is increasingly difficult to deny.

Retrieved June 10,2015 from http://www.vox.com/2015/5/13/8602301/honeybees-...

Neonicotinoids, or “neonics” for short, are a group of synthetic neurotoxin pesticides. Since the introduction of neonics as chemical pesticides, bee populations have plummeted. In spite of the myriad scientific studies tying neonics to bee decline, they are still present in the majority of plants sold in the United States, as well as many seeds and planting soils.

And this catastrophic loss of bees has severe implications not only in terms of biodiversity, but also for us. Neonicotinoids have been tied to birth defects and neurological disorders, as well as water pollution and loss of food security. Bees pollinate over $20 billion of U.S. crops every year (which means that you can thank a bee for every third bite of food that you take). If we keep losing bees, both human and animal food supply is at serious risk. No bees, no food.

Bees are like the storied canary in the coal mine; their death tells us that our shared environment has become toxic. But unlike the miners who fled the mine when their canaries died, we cannot flee, for we—like the bees—live in this mine: it is our global environment.

The Solution: Bee Safe Boulder


Bee Safe Boulder is committed to enacting change in Boulder County and beyond through community, education, and collaboration.

Here are just a few of the projects that we are currently working on:

  • Organizing community outreach events around Boulder County to train and mobilize volunteers to make their own neighborhoods bee-safe.
  • Partnering with local environmental organizations and student clubs to organize solution-oriented, hands-on youth events and train the next generation of environmental activists.
  • Reaching out to local schools and school districts, Boulder Housing Partners, retirement communities, and homeowners associations to organize a major academic conference looking at issues revolving around pesticide-use to take place at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the fall.
  • Creating outreach tools and resources that can be used by community organizers to create bee safe chapters all over the nation.
We want to have the biggest impact possible in protecting bees and getting people to say "no" to neonics. Our methods have been proven effective over the past year, and we are excited to continue building our organization! Read more about our methods below:

Community

BSB Co-Founders David Wheeler and Molly Greacen standing with Greacen's beehive in Boulder's first bee safe neighborhood

One of BSB's main focuses is on creating "Bee Safe Neighborhoods." Based on the protocol created by the Living Systems Institute (Golden, CO) a Bee Safe Neighborhood is a neighborhood where at least 75 contiguous households pledge not to use neonicotinoids. This elegant simplicity can have far-reaching effects, city-wide, state-wide, and even nation-wide.

We founded BSB in the spring of 2014, inspired by the "buzz" surrounding the news of our neighborhood becoming the first ever Bee Safe Neighborhood, canvassing to get around 200 households to pledge to not use neonicotinoid pesticides, or plants which have been pre-treated with them, on their lawns and gardens. Over 80% of our neighbors further pledged not to use ANY synthetic pesticides outside and to plant bee friendly plants. 

In this process, we discovered that celebrating the strength of community is a powerful means to bring about change. We learned that neighbors talking to neighbors leads to the kind of communication and education that can bring about real change. 

Education


Art students at Shining Mountain Waldorf School creating a bee mural for earth day

Working with School Groups: 

The youth are our future, and it is of the utmost importance that they realize their vital place in the mission to save the bees. Recently we've done work with several student groups including the Fairview High School Net Zero Environmental Group in Boulder. These amazing students have spoken at Boulder City Council and other city-wide events with Bee Safe Boulder, and are remarkable activists for the environment and bees. On Earth Day, we also had the opportunity to send volunteers and bee-safe materials to elementary schools around Boulder County. We're excited to expand our educational mission and get more youth involved!

Outreach:

There are now eight official Bee Safe Neighborhoods and smaller Bee Safe Communities. Around 50 neighborhoods are in process in Boulder County and other parts of the United States. One of the most impressive things- all of this was completed in the past year.

Collaboration

Bee Safe Boulder works with businesses, schools, and other government and private organizations.

Retailers & Businesses:

Bee Safe Boulder has secured pledges from local retailers, landscapers, and lawn care and tree companies to not sell contaminated plants, bulbs, trees, turf, and topical garden products that contain neonics, or, if they must sell these products, to label anything that does contain them.

We have also contacted nurseries and other growers up the wholesale supply line to secure neonic-free plants for our pledged companies. 33 companies so far have pledged and are making this transition! Local Colorado growers have jumped on the bandwagon in response to consumer demand; we are changing how businesses think about the environment, and about their ability and responsibility to make important change.

We are empowering citizens to change their neighborhoods and their cities too! Here is a sticker from a local business:


After BSB informed them of the dangers of neonics, McGuckin Hardware put these labels on all plants containing neonicotinoids. 

City Government:

We asked our local Boulder City Council to pass a Resolution banning the use of neonics on city property: to become a "Bee Safe City." They enthusiastically took up the challenge, and on May 5, 2015, coinciding with the launch of this campaign, Resolution #1159, "A Resolution Concerning the Use of Neonicontinoid Pesticides in the City of Boulder," was passed by a unanimous vote city council.

BSB Co-Founder Molly Greacen speaking at City County as Resolution #1159 is passed

Volunteers:

We have over 100 volunteers in Boulder County who are working restlessly to create Bee Safe neighborhoods, reach out to garden supply retailers, and otherwise keep this organization successful and buzzing.

Advisory Board:

Bee Safe Boulder collaborated with an advisory board made up of a variety of educated and productive members. We are working diligently to be inclusive, organized, energetic, and intelligent about how to tackle the various obstacles that we meet on our journey to a bee-safe city.

Partners:

BSB also partners with a variety of both local and national organizations, including Boulder Rights of Nature, Beyond Pesticides, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Beyond Toxics, the Xerces Society, and both the Boulder County and Colorado Beekeepers Associations, to work toward elimination in of neonics and other pesticide use.

What We Need:

Bee Safe Boulder needs to raise $25,000, one dollar for each species of bee, in order to hire a part-time community and volunteer organizer, who can help us continue our critical work with local businesses in Boulder County, continue our outreach efforts, and fund special projects, such as those mentioned below. With your help, we will make not only Boulder, but the whole nation bee safe.



Closing:

Bee Safe Boulder has created a national conversation about changing pesticide use on lawns and gardens in this country.  We have established a new path to a bright future, but we cannot do it alone anymore.

Donate today to make the movement move and #beethechange.


Other Ways You Can Help:

If you can't contribute financially here are some other ways you can help:

  • Tell your friends about this campaign--click the share links to share on social media!
  • Share the video and spread the word about #BeeSafeBoulder
  • Pledge to be bee-safe
  • Volunteer with Bee Safe Boulder
  • Start your own Bee Safe Neighborhood

Visit www.beesafeboulder.com to learn more.


**Notice: If you donate with a credit or debit card, the charge on your statement will be from the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, the group under which we have our non-profit status.**

Looking for more information? Check the project FAQ
Need more information
Let us know if you think this campaign contains prohibited content.

Choose your Perk

featured

BEE SAFE BOULDER FAN PACKAGE

$40 USD
Become a Bee Safe Boulder fan! Choose this perk to receive a locally-made, organic cotton Bee Safe Boulder t-shirt, a Bee Safe Boulder sticker, and a shout-out on social media. Only ten of these packages are available.
1 out of 10 of claimed

Bee Safe Boulder Sticker

$10 USD
Get a BSB sticker to sport on your water bottle or laptop so that you can show your support wherever you go!
1 out of 100 of claimed

Bee Rescue Wildflower Seed Mix

$25 USD
Receive this colorful combination of wildflowers that will provide nectar and pollen for full season support of native and introduced bee species. We'll also send you one of our newly-designed BSB stickers.
3 out of 300 of claimed

Jar of Highland Honey

$50 USD
Get some tasty, artisanal honey handcrafted in Boulder County, Colorado by our very own resident beekeeper, Tim Brod.
3 out of 100 of claimed

Bee Safe Neighbor Yard Sign

$50 USD
Receive a Bee Safe Neighbor yard sign to show your neighbors that you're committed to keeping a bee-friendly yard.
2 out of 100 of claimed

100 BSN Yard Flags

$75 USD
When you're creating a bee safe neighborhood, giving a yard flag to every pledger enhances the feeling of a bee safe community (and, of course, makes your neighborhood look awesome). Choose this perk to receive 100 Bee Safe Neighborhood flags to distribute to your neighbors!
0 out of 20 of claimed

Bee Safe Neighborhood T-Shirt

$100 USD
Get a locally&sustainably-made Bee Safe Neighborhoods tee and sticker so that you can represent Bee Safe Boulder everywhere you go! Adult Sizes Small-2XL Youth Sizes Med-Large
1 out of 100 of claimed

Book: "Poison Spring"

$100 USD
Receive a signed copy of Evaggelos Vallianatos' "Poison Spring: The Secret History of Pollution and the EPA," an autobiographical account of the inner workings of the EPA. This important 2015 work from Bloomsbury Press exposes the inner workings of the EPA and its shocking revolving door relationship with the pesticide industry. It just came out in paperback.
1 out of 50 of claimed

Book and T-shirt combo

$175 USD
Receive a signed copy of Evaggelos Vallianatos' "Poison Spring: The Secret History of Pollution and the EPA," an autobiographical account of the inner workings of the EPA. This important 2015 work from Bloomsbury Press exposes the inner workings of the EPA and its shocking revolving door relationship with the pesticide industry. AND get a Bee Safe Neighborhoods t-shirt, too! (Sizes: Adult S-2XL, Youth M, L)
0 out of 50 of claimed

Market Your Business

$200 USD
Learn how to use inbound marketing to promote your business. Receive a 40 minute session with Sue Seecof, Web Marketing and Design specialist and learn how to use blogging, eblasts, social media, Google ads and newsletters to grow your brand. Get info at www.sueseecof.com.
0 out of 1 of claimed

Bee Safe Neighborhood Kit

$250 USD
Do you want to start your own Bee Safe Neighborhood? Choose this perk to receive 2 Yard signs, 50 post cards, and 50 door hangers and start a buzz in your neighborhood.
0 out of 50 of claimed

Bee Safe Neighborhood Workshop

$1,500 USD
Bee Safe Boulder will help you create your own Bee Safe Neighborhood with an educational workshop and presentation. Donor must cover travel expenses outside of Boulder. This perk includes a starter kit with 2 Bee Safe Neighborhood yard signs, 50 neonic post cards, and 50 door hangers, as well as 100 Bee Safe Neighbor yard flags.
0 out of 5 of claimed

Golden Honey Sponsorship

$3,000 USD
Golden Honey Sponsorship package In gratitude for your support we will feature you (or your organization) on the Bee Safe Boulder website, in our training materials, and with a custom social media campaign thanking you for your support.
0 out of 5 of claimed

You may also be interested in

Up Caret