Volunteers in YEE

"The Right to Be(e)" was a grassroots campaign which aimed to support the survival of bees with local actions. The first concern was to attract more attention to the disappearance and well-being of bees in Europe. The campaign was created in 2012, and the first actions started in 2013. It was open to everybody – bee enthusiasts or not – and encouraged anyone to help bees no matter how small the action was (planting a flower, visiting a local beekeeper…). Because all actions are a step for improving the well-being of bees, and, on the long run, our own well-being.

Here are the results of five years of campaigning for the bees!

NGOs, primary schools, groups of friends, families, but also people on their own took part in this campaign. We send a warm thank you to everybody for their involvement and their will to help bees!

The actions were very diverse and creative, individual and collective. Everyone who took part in this campaign contributed to raising awareness about the  disappearance of bees and/or to bee-survival in Europe. Should it be by trying to learn more about bees and how to improve their well-being, by supporting and visiting local beekeepers, by providing information and triggering the collective reflection through workshops and online campaigns, or by creating a bee-friendlier environment (planting flowers, building bee hotels…).

Check out “The Right to Be(e)” actions map here.

Thanks to our participants, flowers, herbs, and fruits and vegetables have grown in gardens, balconies and urban areas. We mention some of them:

Bell flowers, Royal purple brunfelsia, Calendula, Dahlia, Daisy, Sacred datura, Carnation, Fidelity, Forget-me-not, Blue tansy, Malva, Petunia, Marigold, Whitelady

Lavender, Chamomile, Melissa, Mentha, Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme

Cucumber, Eggplant, Strawberries, Sweet pea, Tomato, Zucchini

…Any many other species!

This campaign has been supported by 12 ‘bee campaigners’ across Europe (you can find their profiles in “The Right to Be(e)”’s Facebook album “Bee Campaigners”) and by 470 bee-lovers, who followed “The Right to Be(e)”’s Facebook page and received updates from the campaign as well as some useful information about bees.

The Right to Be(e) actions started one year after the beginning of the campaign, with an info and planting workshop organised by the YEE team in the eco-center Toulcuv Dvur (Prague, Czech Republic) during the Day of Earth, and a family planting in Walmsburg (Germany).

Learn more...

The summer of 2014 was a big step for the campaign, with the launch of the first The Right to Be(e) Competition. The competition aimed to foster the organisation of local workshops about bees in order to raise awareness about the disappearance of bees in Europe.

This workshop competition gathered 7 participants: the NGO gardening group “Vi Odlar!”, from Lund University (Sweden), the art space “MUDDUM” (Czech Republic), the organisation for eco-clubs “OPE” (Portugal), the youth center “SVČ” (Czech Republic), the youth organisation “Mine Vaganti” (Italy), the environmental organisation “Biodiversa” (Spain), and the youth organisation “GUTTA-CLUB” (Moldova).

The first place was awarded to “GUTTA-CLUB”, for the workshop “Save bees”, that aimed to inform and discuss about the importance of bees through different means (lecture, painting workshop, flash mob, theatre play…).

Hu2 Design kindly supported The Right to Be(e) by offering some amazing eco-friendly stickers as prizes for this competition. Find them on Facebook here.

Learn more...

This year was the planting year! The Right to Be(e) campaign focused on the promotion of grassroots planting actions all around Europe. Between 11th and 23rd of May, 12 participants from 8 different countries took part in this planting movement, to make our Earth a better place for the bees.

Learn more...

The summer of 2016 was very active! We counted 8 different actions (for example, visits to local beekeepers, workshops for children, debates, planting actions, online campaigns…), including our 5 participants of the third "The Right to Bee" competition that focused on helping bees in urban areas.

Participants in the competition were: the center for Development Education and Networking “EDEN” (Albania), Sombor elementary schools (Serbia), the Association for International Cooperation “EYAS” (Spain), Ylona Erard (France), the youth eco-movement “SAEM” (Georgia).

The winner was “EYAS”, for their creative Twitter campaign.

Learn more...

This year was also focused on learning. Between 23rd and 30th of August, YEE organised the training course (“Be(e) the change”) in the eco-center Toulcuv Dvur (Prague, Czech Republic), in order to improve YEE's and Member Organisations' campaigning skills by discovering more tools that make an educational environmental campaign successful.

One outcome of this training course was the booklet ‘Be(e) the change - guide on campaigning”, that helps you to start, to lead and to close a campaign. You can also find advice and useful information on how to help bees in the section “What you can do - Toolkit”.

During April and May, “The Right to Be(e)” campaign focused on sharing, action and support. This year again, organisations and people from all over Europe carried out diverse actions ranging from flower plantings and educational trainings, to meetings with beekeepers and fostering local beekeeping with a honey breakfast initiative.

Learn more...

Keep being involved in your community for improving the welfare of bees! Have a look at the section “What you can do - Toolkit” and check what you can do to help bees

Want to know more about the situation of bees nowadays? Check the section “Report about bees (2017)”.

Why to plant   What to plant   How to plant		Urban gardening   Planting flowers   Seed bombing   How to get free seeds
Urban beekeeping   Volunteering with beekeepers   Honey from local producers		Building bee hotels   Building a bee habitat
Organic food tasting   Puppet theatre for bees   How to promote your event		Lessons in schools about bees   BOOKLET "Be(e) the change"   INFOGRAPHIC "10 Things you can do to save the bees"

Do you want to read about The Right to Be(e) campaign? Have a look at the section "Summary of results The Right to Be(e)".

If you are curious to know more about the current situation of bees, check the section “Report about bees (2017)”. 

Check the map below to see what we did to help bees in 2017! (the map does not show exact locations of actions)



















Click on pictures for details of actions:

Bees are already up and about their business...and what are you up to?

Spring has been the perfect time for launching our "The Right to Be(e)" campaign. Like many years before, we again set out to attract more attention to the well-being of bees in Europe. "The Right to Be(e)" is a grassroots campaign which aims to support the survival of bees with local actions. It is open to everybody - no matter if you are a bee enthusiast or not. And in the end it is for everybody, not just bees. By helping them, we help ourselves on the long run.

In 2017 we focused on sharing, action and support. We carried out diverse actions, ranging from flower plantings (as a follow up to our Be(e) The Change training course) and educational trainings, to meetings with beekeepers and promotions of a honey breakfast initiative. Interested to learn more? Click the banner below!

Funders:

We prepared a few guidelines presenting examples of urban activities that you can make in order to help the bees. They are here only for your inspiration - feel free to try other ideas. Put your knowledge, creativity and concern for the bees to good use. :) 

Text: Esther Vallado, Natalia Luchko, Judit Suveges, Vladimir Jordanov, Ruzanna Manyan, Jovana Mirjanić, Tijana Ljubenovic

Design: Roxana Nica 

Activities guidelines available in Spanish language

Traducción: Julia Casado, Noa Philippon Salinas, Blanca Berzosa

The Right to Be(e) competition for the best activity to help the bees is now closed. The winner was EYAS and their creative Twitter campaign to promote the importance of bees. All results are shown below. Congratulations to all participants!

Stay tuned for more bee activities!

 ENTRY MODELS

Games about bees and planting action in Toulcuv Dvur

Who organised the activity: YEE office

When it took place: 22 April 2016

Where it took place: Toulcuv Dvur, Prague (Czech Republic)

What happened: On the Earth Day celebration YEE prepared a few activities for children. We had n ongoing workshop on making paper bees (which they could stick to flower pots), a game about the fruits and vegetables we can find in the garden that can be pollinated by bees, bee face painting. We also organised a planting action in the farm with the children through which we planted sunflower seeds and greenpea seeds.

Why do you want to help the bees: because they help us in so many ways and they contribute significantly to the health of our planet.

Planting flowers in Macedonia

Who organised the activity: Vladimir Jordanov

When it took place: 17 May 2016

Where it took place: Stip, Macedonia

What happened: I planted a bee-friendly Gerbera Daisy flower in the garden of my house

Why do you want to help the bees: to have balanced and healthy ecosystems 

COMPETITION ENTRIES:

Planting flowers beside the trees on the city's sidewalk

Who organised the activity: EDEN Center

When it took place: 6 May 2016

Where it took place: Tirana, Albania

What happened: For the campaign we planted some flowers with the intention to increase the awareness regarding the bee issue by asking the interested ones to donate flowers to be planted beside the trees on the sidewalk as we did. Find out more here.

Why do you want to help the bees: we want to highlight the importance that the bees represent for the nature as well as humans; a reason why we are part on the campaign too.

 Actvities for the bees in Serbian elementary schools  

Who organised the activity: Two elementary schools from Sombor, Serbia.

When it took place: 21 May 2016

Where it took place: It took place in our school, both in biology classroom and in school garden.

What happened: We talked about biodiversity and the importance of bees in human life and in nature in general. Also we talked about global problem-disappearing of bees, and thus to that we watched this video. After that we planted some flowering plants in our school garden. Also, we made few interesting magnets with bee, flower and hive motives that are now in our biology classroom, and in our homes.

Why do you want to help the bees: Importance of bees in life of all living creatures is enormous. They provide us food, they provide food to animals and reproduction to flowering plants. Without bees our life would be very different from this that we live now. So if we want to change nothing and to have various food in our plates, we need to help and protect the bees.

Twitter campaign about the importance of bees

Who organised the activity: EYAS Young European Association for International Cooperation

When it took place: From 5th – 11th June 2016

Where it took place: Zaragoza and Madrid, Spain

What happened: We launched an online twitter campaign raising awareness about the protection of bees. It was a 7 days campaign, starting on the Environmental World Day (5thJune). We structured the campaign in 7 topics, answering with facts to these question:
Day 1: Why bees are so important?
Day 2: Why bees can disappear?
Day 3: Inspiring initiatives for the protection of bees
Day 4: What can we do for bees? Supporting this topic we planted 2 flower plants on the roofs of Madrid (photo)
Day 5: Let's share bee friendly workshop ideas
Day 6: Support your local community. Supporting this topic the team bought local honey in Zaragoza (photo)
Day 7: Spread the message!

The language used was Spanish. We reached 60 people and organizations directly, having likes and retweets JWe also mentioned organizations such @Greenpeace_Es @ONU_es and @UN to have more impact. The account for the campaign was @eyas_europe and the following hashtags were used: #RightToBee #salvemoslasabejas #SOSabejas #DMMA2016

Why do you want to help the bees: Because they balance nature and keep biodiversity.

Having a bee-friendly garden with a wild corner

Who organized the activity? Ylona Erard

When it took place: 10th of June 2016

Where it took place: Drome, France

What happened: In the back of my garden, we have two beehives. This year I decided to let a part of the garden growing wild and it turned into beautiful wild flowers. They are really appreciated by bees and bumblebees that are buzzing all around.

Why do you want to help the bees? Because I am not sure people realize how important they are. How would be my garden without bees? How would be nature without bees?

Raising awareness on bees with online activities and meeting of beekeepers and strawberry farmers 

 

MORE ACTIVITIES FOR THE RIGHT TO BE(E) CAMPAIGN!

Even though the competition is over, there are still wonderful activities across Europe to help the bees. Read about them below!

LEARNING ABOUT HONEY AND BEEKEEPING

Who organised the activity: Ana Markovska

When it took place: June 2016

Where it took place: Novo Selo, Skopje, Macedonia

What happened: I went to visit a local producer of organic honey near Skopje and buy several jars of it. The reason for this is that by buying local-produced honey, I know what and from where I am getting the product. In addition, I also decrease the environmental impact of my consumer habits. I learned about the beekeeper in Novo Selo from a friend and during my visit, he was kind enough to answer many questions that I had, and also to show me how he makes the organic honey.

Why do you want to help the bees: The simplest answer and the most truthful is that if we don't help the bees, the world as we know will cease to exist. Bees are small yet hard-working insects that keep our eco-system together.

We prepared a few guidelines presenting examples of urban activities that you can make in order to help the bees. They are here only for your inspiration - feel free to try other ideas. Put your knowledge, creativity and concern for the bees to good use. :) 

Text: Esther Vallado, Natalia Luchko, Judit Suveges, Vladimir Jordanov, Ruzanna Manyan, Jovana Mirjanić, Tijana Ljubenovic

Design: Roxana Nica  

Activities guidelines available in Spanish language

In spring 2016, we planned a competition throughout Europe, encouraging people to organise actions that help the bees in urban areas. We invited all member organisations and YEE friends to take part in our campaign within their communities.

The activities took place in April and May 2016. We collected materials from all teams, promoted them within the YEE network and included them in this year's bee competition for best activity to help the bees. The winner was EYAS and their creative Twitter campaign to promote the importance of bees. All results are shown below. Congratulations to all participants!

You can find below the activities organised by all participants within the campaign, as well as other useful materials for inspiration. 

Keep buzzing!

ENTRY MODELS

Games about bees and planting action in Toulcuv Dvur

Who organised the activity: YEE office

When it took place: 22 April 2016

Where it took place: Toulcuv Dvur, Prague (Czech Republic)

What happened: On the Earth Day celebration YEE prepared a few activities for children. We had n ongoing workshop on making paper bees (which they could stick to flower pots), a game about the fruits and vegetables we can find in the garden that can be pollinated by bees, bee face painting. We also organised a planting action in the farm with the children through which we planted sunflower seeds and greenpea seeds.

Why do you want to help the bees: because they help us in so many ways and they contribute significantly to the health of our planet.

Planting flowers in Macedonia

Who organised the activity: Vladimir Jordanov

When it took place: 17 May 2016

Where it took place: Stip, Macedonia

What happened: I planted a bee-friendly Gerbera Daisy flower in the garden of my house

Why do you want to help the bees: to have balanced and healthy ecosystems 

COMPETITION ENTRIES:

Planting flowers beside the trees on the city's sidewalk

Who organised the activity: EDEN Center

When it took place: 6 May 2016

Where it took place: Tirana, Albania

What happened: For the campaign we planted some flowers with the intention to increase the awareness regarding the bee issue by asking the interested ones to donate flowers to be planted beside the trees on the sidewalk as we did. Find out more here.

Why do you want to help the bees: we want to highlight the importance that the bees represent for the nature as well as humans; a reason why we are part on the campaign too.

 Actvities for the bees in Serbian elementary schools  

Who organised the activity: Two elementary schools from Sombor, Serbia.

When it took place: 21 May 2016

Where it took place: It took place in our school, both in biology classroom and in school garden.

What happened: We talked about biodiversity and the importance of bees in human life and in nature in general. Also we talked about global problem-disappearing of bees, and thus to that we watched this video. After that we planted some flowering plants in our school garden. Also, we made few interesting magnets with bee, flower and hive motives that are now in our biology classroom, and in our homes.

Why do you want to help the bees: Importance of bees in life of all living creatures is enormous. They provide us food, they provide food to animals and reproduction to flowering plants. Without bees our life would be very different from this that we live now. So if we want to change nothing and to have various food in our plates, we need to help and protect the bees.

Twitter campaign about the importance of bees

Who organised the activity: EYAS Young European Association for International Cooperation

When it took place: From 5th – 11th June 2016

Where it took place: Zaragoza and Madrid, Spain

What happened: We launched an online twitter campaign raising awareness about the protection of bees. It was a 7 days campaign, starting on the Environmental World Day (5thJune). We structured the campaign in 7 topics, answering with facts to these question:
Day 1: Why bees are so important?
Day 2: Why bees can disappear?
Day 3: Inspiring initiatives for the protection of bees
Day 4: What can we do for bees? Supporting this topic we planted 2 flower plants on the roofs of Madrid (photo)
Day 5: Let's share bee friendly workshop ideas
Day 6: Support your local community. Supporting this topic the team bought local honey in Zaragoza (photo)
Day 7: Spread the message!

The language used was Spanish. We reached 60 people and organizations directly, having likes and retweets JWe also mentioned organizations such @Greenpeace_Es @ONU_es and @UN to have more impact. The account for the campaign was @eyas_europe and the following hashtags were used: #RightToBee #salvemoslasabejas #SOSabejas #DMMA2016

Why do you want to help the bees: Because they balance nature and keep biodiversity.

Having a bee-friendly garden with a wild corner

Who organized the activity? Ylona Erard

When it took place: 10th of June 2016

Where it took place: Drome, France

What happened: In the back of my garden, we have two beehives. This year I decided to let a part of the garden growing wild and it turned into beautiful wild flowers. They are really appreciated by bees and bumblebees that are buzzing all around.

Why do you want to help the bees? Because I am not sure people realize how important they are. How would be my garden without bees? How would be nature without bees?

Raising awareness on bees with online activities and meeting of beekeepers and strawberry farmers 

 

MORE ACTIVITIES FOR THE RIGHT TO BE(E) CAMPAIGN!

Even though the competition is over, there are still wonderful activities across Europe to help the bees. Read about them below!

LEARNING ABOUT HONEY AND BEEKEEPING

Who organised the activity: Ana Markovska

When it took place: June 2016

Where it took place: Novo Selo, Skopje, Macedonia

What happened: I went to visit a local producer of organic honey near Skopje and buy several jars of it. The reason for this is that by buying local-produced honey, I know what and from where I am getting the product. In addition, I also decrease the environmental impact of my consumer habits. I learned about the beekeeper in Novo Selo from a friend and during my visit, he was kind enough to answer many questions that I had, and also to show me how he makes the organic honey.

Why do you want to help the bees: The simplest answer and the most truthful is that if we don't help the bees, the world as we know will cease to exist. Bees are small yet hard-working insects that keep our eco-system together.

Check out:

Activity guidelines 2016

The Right to Be(e) poster 2016 

In 2015 The Right to Be(e) campaign invited everybody who supports the bees to organise a planting action.

Read here about planting events happening all over Europe!

Small rooftop garden at the ecological centre Toulcuv Dvur, Prague

Date of planting: 10 May

Who took part: YEE office

What did you plant: Vegetables (tomato, cucumber, zucchini,  eggplant) and strawberries

Where did you plant it: Small urban rooftop garden at the ecological centre Toulcuv Dvur, Prague, Czech Republic

Why do you want to help bees? We are corncerned about the colony collapse disorder and we believe that everyone should come together to help bees

Zara's planting action, Yerevan, Armenia

Date of planting: 14 May 2015

Who took part: Zaruhi Stepanyan

What did you plant: Datura wrightii

Where did you plant it: In a green area near my house in Yerevan, Armenia

Why do you want to help bees? Because the bees are a very important part of our ecosystem

Planting action in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Date of planting: 19 May 2015

Who took part: Cluj team - Andra, Ellie and Roxana

What did you plant: Cucumber

Where did you plant it: In a green area on the outskirts of Cluj

Why do you want to help bees? Because they play an important role in our day-to-day life. We wouldn't have all these delicious fruits and vegetables without bees. 

Elementary school ''Nikola Vukićević'' from Sombor, Serbia

Date of planting: 23 May 2015

Who took part: Elementary school students together with their biology teacher Ena Horvat from Sombor, Serbia

What did you plant: Lavandula angustifolia, Matricaria chamomile, Melisa officinalis, Mentha piperita, Rosmarinus officinalis, Origanum vulgare

Where did you plant it: In our school garden in Sombor, Serbia

Why do you want to help bees? Bees provides us food: fruits, vegetables, crops as well as honey, propolis and royal jelly, so we owe them so much! The least we can do is to plant a few plants and to make the city a better place for them!

Jessica's windows box planting, London

Date of planting: 21 May 2015

Who took part: Jessica Massucco

What did you plant: Sweet pea

Where did you plant it: On the streets of East London, UK (in my window box)

Why do you want to help bees? Because they seem to be doing a good job. Also just because I love bees.

Biodiversa planting action, Asturias, Spain

Date of planting: May 23 2015

Who took part: Biodiversa NGO organized the action as part of a TC named "Connecting with Nature"

What did you plant: Lavender, thyme and rosemary

Where did you plant it: In Valeru which is a voillage in Asturias located at the north of Spain

Why do you want to help bees? Because people have the "bad habit" of eating fruits and jam and cheese and drink juices, without bees these thigs will be out of our table in short time.

Primary school "Simeon Aranicki" from Stara Pazova, Serbia

Date of planting: 12 May 2015

Who took part: Pupils from 5 to 7 grade, as a part of our biology course in our school "Simeon Aranicki" Stara Pazova, Serbia

What did you plant: Salvia, lavandula, ocimum, tagetes

Where did you plant it: 1st step- our classrom, 2nd step- school garden

Why do you want to help bees? We are young biologists who are worried about the well-being of bees and that is why we are ofering our help.

Anja's planting action in Hamburg, Germany

Date of planting: 22 May 2015

Who took part: Only me, but our whole street had a planting action this week with different kinds of flowers

What did you plant: Bell flowers (different species, 1 purple 1 white)

Where did you plant it: On my balcony

Why do you want to help bees? Especially in cities, green areas and flowers are fragmented. By planting flowers, you can support the bees in finding pollen and nectar by giving them a "green and blossoming corridor" which they can use to migrate from park to park.

FYCA planting action, Yerevan, Armenia

Date of planting: 14 May 2015

Who took part: Office staff

What did you plant: Daisy, Forget-me-not

Where did you plant it: Near our office in Yerevan

Why do you want to help bees? Because in Armenia we are using honey too much

Ruzanna's planting action, Yerevan, Armenia 

Date of planting: 21 May 2015

Who took part: Members of Yeghvard NGO, pupils

What did you plant: Dianthus, Dahlia, Petunia

Where did you plant it: School garden

Why do you want to help bees? Why not? :) Without bees biodiversity would not be so great

Elementary school "Ivo Lola Ribar" from Novi Sad, Serbia

Date of planting: 25 May 2015

Who took part: 6th grade students of elementary school "Ivo Lola Ribar" Novi Sad, Serbia

What did you plant: Rosmarinus, Melissa, Lavandula, Mentha, Thymus

Where did you plant it: School garden

Why do you want to help bees? We live in a big city, where there aren t many bees and wee all know bees are extremely useful

IPAS planting action in Durres, Albania

Date of planting: 27 June

Who took part: IPAS Team (Lori, Rezi and Elsiona)

What did you plant: Fidelity, Thumbergia Fragrans, Brunfelsia Grandiflora

Where did you plant it: Urban area in Durres

Why do you want to help bees? Bees give a very important contribution for human kind, providing honey, one of the most healthiest products we consume. They are an irreplaceable component of the ecosystem.

When: 11-23 May 2015
Who: everyone interested
Where: all over Europe
What: plant flowers for bees

Description:

Are you interested in supporting the survival of bees? YEE has some good news for you! For YEE's grassroots campaign "The Right to Be(e)", we want to invite all our member organisations and YEE friends to organise flower planting actions within their communities.

The events will take place between 11 and 23 May 2015. We encourage you to gather a team of bee-lovers and contribute to the creation of a better habitat for the small yellow insects.

Afterward, we will collect materials from all teams (articles, photos) and promote them within the YEE network.

Do you want to plant flowers for your local bees? Do it, fill in this template and send it with your pictures to Vladimir Jordanov This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Keep buzzing!

The Winners

The big winner of our competition was Gutta-Club from Moldova with the "Save bees" workshop. Buzzing congratulations to them! Second place went to MUDDUM with their "Sweet colours", while the third place was awarded to "The Buzzing Beehive" from Vi Odlar!.  We want to congratulate all the participants for their amazing activities and to use their examples as inspiration for other bee projects.

              Gutta-Club receiving the prize                                            MUDDUM receiving the prize 

            Biodiversa receiving the prize                                               OPE receiving the prize  

              Mine Vaganti receiving the prize

Hu2 Design has generously given us some fabulous, eco-friendly prizes. Find them on Facebook here. 

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Entry #1: The Buzzing Beehive 

Name of the workshop: The Buzzing Beehive

Organisation: Vi Odlar! (NGO gardening group) / Lund University

Country: Sweden

Workshop description: Under the label 'The Buzzing Beehive' we set up a beehive in the cultural center Stenkrossen in Lund. With three workshops, we conducted environmental education with children aged 8-11 years from Lunds International School. The motivation for doing this project resulted from two major considerations. Firstly, people's commitment to the natural environment has decreased, particularly visible in children's knowledge and experience of nature. Secondly, the decline of bee colonies endangers ecosystem stability as well as human food supply. Our project goal was to raise children's awareness of the importance of bees. Thus, we spiked their curiosity and interest in beekeeping. By establishing the beehive together, we promoted their interest in and awareness of nature with hands-on interaction. For more information, please clilck here. 

Entry #2: Sweet colours

Name of workshop: Sweet colours

Organisation: MUDDUM

Country: Czech Republic

Workshop description: In order to learn that we can make DIY art supplies without strong chemical products, we made our own honey-based watercolours out of natural earthy pigments (sienna, ochre and black), a bit of arabic gum and local artisanal honey. Honey is used as an humectant (a substance that retains water), in our watercolours we used as the medium as well. Afterwards we used them to paint on a honeycomb grid to study its visual and structural properties.
More information can be found here. 

Entry #3: In Defense of Bees

Name of workshop: Ecoclubinos&EB1/JI Alheiras in defense of Bees

Organisation: OPE – Organização para a Promoção dos Ecoclubes

Country: Portugal

Workshop description: On February 7th, the ecoclube Ecoclubinos Gaia visited once again the school EB1/JI of Alheiras, this time taking with him a great little friend who left all the school students very happy! Our friend Bee spoke of the importance of his family to preserve the balance of ecosystems and taught the children to know and sow honey species - that help the production of honey. Each student took the challenge to grow your sunflower and help preserve our friendly honey bees that only bite us when they want to protect themselves!

 
Entry #4: 'More Than Honey' Movie Exhibition

Name of workshop: 'More Than Honey' Movie Exhibition

Organisation: OPE – Organização para a Promoção dos Ecoclubes

Country: Portugal

Workshop description: On March 8th, OPE organized a screening of the film "More than Honey", with a debate promoted by Peter, a beekeeper from the Transition Movement of Paredes. The activity occured in the auditorium of Maria Isabel Guerra Junqueiro and Luis Carvalho Pinto de Mesquita Foundation, in Porto. The projection brought together about 30 people and there was a really enriched discussion. The activity also included a demonstration of melliferous herbs.

Entry #5: Regional Day for Bees

Name of workshop: Regional Day for Bees

Organisation: SVČ (Středisko volného času)

Country: Czech Republic

Workshop description: The tenth day of the regional bee - every year for the past 10 years our community has been actively involved in supporting local bees. On the regional day for bees there was lectures, competitions for both young and old citizens and an children's art contest. The judges selected the best children's art which included art for bees.

Entry #6: Non-formal education about bees

Name of workshop: Non-formal education about bees

Organisation: Mine Vaganti

Country: Italy

Workshop description: Members of Mine Vaganti visited two local Primary Schools to lead sessions of non-formal education about the important role of the bees. Participants analized  videos and proposed a creative defense action plan for the bees!

Entry #7: Think like a bee

Name of workshop: Think like a bee

Organisation: Biodiversa

Country: Spain

Workshop description: Gardens offer some of the most important habitats for bee conservation. Participants learnt how to turn any given garden into a bee-friendly garden. For this, they needed to think like a bee! Using this approach they: made a wild corner; provided shelter for the bees; planted for all the seasons; found the right flowers; created nesting sites for solitary bees; used certain plants instead of pesticides; created a bee hotel!

Entry #8: Save bees

Name of workshop: Save bees

Organisation: Republic Centre for Children and Youth GUTTA-CLUB

Country: Moldova

Workshop description: With our youth in action, Gutta-Club organized "Save Bees" which included a lecture about the problem itself and discussions about the importance of bees in our lives, what people can and should do to help bees survive and restore their colonies and population. Each of the participants presented a painting about bee life and bee "enemies". They made up a motto for the action "Save BEES – Save the Planet!". We made a flash-mob and spelt out Save BEES by sitting on the ground. Finally the young participants composed a fairytale about the ecological problems of the 21st century, with bees being the central characters, who with the help of the youngest generation solved all the problems and restored balance between nature and society!

Check out:

Workshop guides

The Vote: 

Vote for your favourite workshop! The poll should only allow a user to vote once per device. The deadline for votes is Wednesday 30th July 2014. 

Click on the link below to vote: 

Best Bee Workshop 2014

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Join this years competition for the best workshop about bees!

The winner will receive amazing prizes: 

• €50 gift voucher for any eco wall sticker on the Hu2 Design online store.

The runners up will receive an eco wall sticker as in the picture.

How to take part:

• submit this form along with 3 photographs to Jessica at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The competition will be judged by public vote.

You can use our workshop guides or come up with your own idea!  Anyone is welcome to enter.

Deadline for submissions: Friday 18 July 2014

If you choose to try some guerrilla gardening, it is very important that you pick a safe but neglected area of public land. You do not want to get into trouble for trespassing on private land. Check your country's legal position on guerrilla gardening now. Attitudes vary across Europe. 

"The kind of guerrilla gardening that I advocate is mostly public land that is neglected. To me this is a fantastic resource for us all. This is our land. It's public already and if it isn't being looked after, if it's been forgotten about or abused, or attracting anti-social behaviour then imagine what it could be instead."

Richard Reynolds, TED Talk (watch here)

You will need to check the area for broken glass and dangerous waste first. Be aware of busy roads and your personal safety. 

Think small: Plant in all the small, grey corners of your city. Some poppies by the bus stop... lettuce on the street corner... sunflowers by the recycling bins. A lot of small actions will green the city! You do not have to take big risks. 

Some ideas:

Window sills 

Doorsteps

Hanging baskets 

Terraces

Rooftops

Public areas:

Read our Guerrilla Gardening Guide!

External Links:

The Pothole Gardener Blog

Guerrilla Gardening from Italy (in English)

Pimp your Pavement

Guerrilla Gardening: Getting Started

Guerrila Gardening Books by Richard Reynolds

Pinterest Tag: Guerrilla Gardening

Environmental Graffiti Article

 Videos:

How to make Seed Bombs by Beepkeeping College of the Melissae

Guerrilla Gardening at Occupy Wall Street

These guides will give you step-by-step instructions on how to organise your own workshops. Each one will help support the survival of bees. 

Text:  Jessica Massucco, Jesus de la Hoz, Ines Cilka, Lira Hakani

Design and Photography:  Jessica Massucco

Organic Food Tasting	Urban Gardening	Guerrilla Gardening
Puppet Theatre for Bees	Urban Beekeeping

How to get Free Seeds

How to promote your event

Materials:

Puppet Theatre for Bees: Script

Puppet Theatre of Bees Puppets:

• Bear
• Blue Flower
• Woodpecker
• Flowers

Urban Beekeeping: Example Letter to Beekeeper

Guerrilla Gardening: Inspiration

Guerrilla Gardening: Where to plant

Urban Gardening: Where to put plants

Urban Gardening: Campaign Slogans

Follow the news about planting actions here and get inspired.

"Vanishing of the Bees" movie screening

On the 3rd of July 2014 YEE organized a screening of the documentary "Vanishing of the Bees". The event was aiming to promote awareness on the disappearance of massive colonies of bees all around the world. After the documentary the participants were invited to take part in an informal discussion in a friendly atmosphere with snacks and drinks.

If you like bees, you can also organise an event to raise awareness about the problem of our small friends!

Spontaneous Plantings across Europe

YEE members continue to make small planting actions across Europe to support the survival of bees. Every action makes a difference! Here's a photo of The Right to Be(e)'s flag flying proudly in the garden.

Family Planting in Walmsburg, Germany

On a beautiful sunny day in April 2013 I had a small planting action in the little village Walmsburg. Two of my brothers, my mother and I, planted some bee-flowers at the edge of our farm. We sowed Lacy Facelia, Calendula and Malva in the ground. We gave them water and now we are looking every day after them and hoping that they will grow up and bloom in a few month and give nectar to the bees.

Iolanthe Kappe

Earth Day: Bee Info and Planting workshop in Prague, Czech Republic

On 20 April 2013 the YEE team took part in the Earth Day celebrations on Toulcuv Dvur.  We organised an informational stand with interesting games, facts and cartoons about bees. We also painted small bees on our faces and everyone who wanted to have one too.

The highlight of our day was sowing the seeds of Lacy phacelia (or Svazenka vraticolista in Czech). These flowers are favourites among local bees who like to pollinate them and produce tasty honey. The planting was very easy and a lot of fun: we just took handfuls of seeds and scattered them around the small field on the farm. Then we only had to work a bit with a rake and hope that the seeds will stay in the soil and grow to be nice purple flowers.

See the photogallery here.

There is so much about bees on the internet. Take your time and find out more about them!

News and articles about bees: 

'Victory for bees' as European Union bans neonicotinoid pesticides blamed for destroying bee population

Bee deaths: EU delays action on pesticides ban

Pesticide makes bees forget the scent for food, new study finds

Neonicotinoid pesticides 'damage brains of bees'

What is the value of bees?

Bees infographic

British Beekeepers Assosiation

Making a bee-friendly garden

How to build a bee house

Bee venim can kill HIV, study says

How you can prevent the collapse of the BEE-cosystem

10 days for a pesticide-free spring!

European agriculture at risk: time to ban bee-killing pesticides

Movies and videos about bees:

Green infrastructure – Building blocks of modern life

Burt talks to the Bees

Vanishing of the Bees (official website)

More than Honey (official website)

A plea for bees (TED talk)

Every city nees healthy honey bees (TED talk)

Gardening tips

Sowing seeds

The Right to Be(e) campaign aims to support the survival of bees. 

It was created in 2012 to attract more attention to the disappearance and well-being of bees in Europe. Its first activities started in 2013, when YEE encouraged people across Europe to plant bee-friendly flowers in a planting flashmob on Earth Day. 

This year we will continue with the campaign. You can find out more information about The Right to Be(e) campaign 2017 here. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join! It is a perfect example of the philosophy: Think Globally, Act Locally.

What you can do to help the bees:

• Organise local planting actions
• Green up your cities
• Spread news about bees in your local communities
• Support local beekeepers
• Campaign against pesticides
• Rejoice in your love for bees!

Join the community on Facebook

Keep the planet buzzing. Donations will be spent on bee workshops in Prague, YEE's headquarters.

We are recruiting bee campaigners to make a local actions in their own communities! We are creating interactive workshop guides for our campaigners. Sign up here!

  
2017

Campaign 2016 

Events 2015

Events and competition 2014

 Other previous events

Discover more

MATERIALS:

Activities guidelines

Workshop Guides 2014

Flyer 2013

Why plant

What to plant

How to plant

New logo

Old logo

 Flags

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