May April showers bring May flowers!
Happy end of semester, everyone! The BEES enjoyed all the exciting and entertaining presentations over the past three classes very much. They were very informative, and very well done. While we can all come away from these presentations more informed, we think that perhaps more importantly we can come away from these presentations simply more aware. I personally have learned a ton from these presentations, and this class overall. But perhaps the most important thing we’ve learned is that there are tons of pressing environmental issues we need to be aware of in the world, and that even the smallest things can have such a large impact on the environment, for better or for worse. You don’t have to go down to zero waste to make a difference – simply watch what you eat and throw away. Try to recycle more. You can make an impact if you set your mind to making small, simple changes. Stay aware, Penn State. It’s been a fantastic semester.
Currently our hypertufas are on display outside the greenhouse across the road! John Rost just got permission to place them in the bed outside of Gaige, so look for them soon, and respect any bees who make them their home in the future. WE ARE!
Pollinators get a boost from @PennStateBerks students’ sustainability projects https://t.co/1AgygJiKaK #PSU4Bees pic.twitter.com/k6mbk4at4d
— Penn State (@penn_state) April 26, 2016
Our project caught the attention of main campus, and after showing our poster in the lobby last Tuesday, we had a little professional photo shoot! The link above shows the results!
Christina Grozinger from @agsciences tells you how to make life better for bees in your backyard. #PSU4bees pic.twitter.com/gHxOkRmHm7
— Penn State (@penn_state) April 27, 2016
And the link in this tweet is a fun little video to help you BEE a little more aware of the bees around you! It was a pleasure BEEing your resident bee advocates of this class! While we’re no experts, we did the best we could to keep our bamboo just big enough for mason bees to be comfortable!
Our bamboo was like that shown in here, all cut with dividers in the middle. So the two-sided build of our bee houses allow for bee nesting on both sides! Twice the bees in one enclosure! We hope to see bees making homes of our habitats in the coming future.
We’d like to thank John Rost for working closely with us through this project, and Dr. Kazempour for giving us this opportunity, and all of you for supporting our presentation! Thank you for a fantastic semester!
BEE seeing you around!!!
Donald Kirby
Patrick McCarty
Jamie Ernesto
Berks Environmental Education Squadron