Submitted by gw shepherd (not verified) on Sun, 2009-03-29 10:45.
Hi,
With all due respect for the lifestyle
I would put a challenge out to all vegans regardless of ethnicity, race or colour regarding their views on boycotting the use of honey and bee byproducts. Currently, bees, our most important agricultural pollinators, are not surviving in the wild and are in real danger of becoming extinct. The only bees doing well are those monitored by beekeepers on commercial apiaries. The excess honey produced and harvested by the beekeeper provides him an income and therefore a justification to operate his apiary.
Natural, local honey is a healthy, important and ethical sweetener and reduces one's environmental footprint as opposed to the use of sugar which is unhealthy and imported (90%+ of Canada's sugar supply is shipped in)Transportation and processing requires large quantities of pollution generating fuel and electricity. Workers on the large commercial sugar plantations are often exploited and underpaid. Honey on the other hand is local and as close as your independent beekeeper and the processing is clean and done by nature (the bee)
The time has come for 'EVERYONE' to RETHINK and expand their consumption of honey including vegans for these and other compelling reasons. Don't believe everything you saw in the recent BEE movie.
The quote "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live." wrongly attributed to Einstein, nevertheless, holds an appropriate warning to those who would not heed this postulate;
"NO BEES...NO POLLINATION...NO FOOD"
Vegans would not be immune to this chain of events but could, if they were as concerned about the plight of the bee as they posture, simply take up the time consuming and hard work of 'apiculture' for the pleasure of it rather than the profit.
gw shepherd- ethical, apprentice beekeeper and honey distributor
violet Hills On
Canada
Hi,
With all due respect for the lifestyle
I would put a challenge out to all vegans regardless of ethnicity, race or colour regarding their views on boycotting the use of honey and bee byproducts. Currently, bees, our most important agricultural pollinators, are not surviving in the wild and are in real danger of becoming extinct. The only bees doing well are those monitored by beekeepers on commercial apiaries. The excess honey produced and harvested by the beekeeper provides him an income and therefore a justification to operate his apiary.
Natural, local honey is a healthy, important and ethical sweetener and reduces one's environmental footprint as opposed to the use of sugar which is unhealthy and imported (90%+ of Canada's sugar supply is shipped in)Transportation and processing requires large quantities of pollution generating fuel and electricity. Workers on the large commercial sugar plantations are often exploited and underpaid. Honey on the other hand is local and as close as your independent beekeeper and the processing is clean and done by nature (the bee)
The time has come for 'EVERYONE' to RETHINK and expand their consumption of honey including vegans for these and other compelling reasons. Don't believe everything you saw in the recent BEE movie.
The quote "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live." wrongly attributed to Einstein, nevertheless, holds an appropriate warning to those who would not heed this postulate;
"NO BEES...NO POLLINATION...NO FOOD"
Vegans would not be immune to this chain of events but could, if they were as concerned about the plight of the bee as they posture, simply take up the time consuming and hard work of 'apiculture' for the pleasure of it rather than the profit.
gw shepherd- ethical, apprentice beekeeper and honey distributor
violet Hills On
Canada