CALPIRG students safeguarding UCR bees

 

Calpirg 3

CALPIRG is short for California Public Interest Research Group and  is a state-wide, student run and funded organization with a chapter present at UCR. We are students across all UC campuses and rally and organize around big issues in our communities. Here at UCR, we have identified five different issues that we currently take action on, one being the importance of bees for our agriculture and food production, given they pollinate more than 80 crops of agricultural interest or about a third of what we eat! In a world without bees, our food production would dramatically change and specifically impact our ability to produce healthy food for everyone. Bees are also extremely important for the sustainability of our ecosystems and a further loss of their pollination services would therefore not only negatively impact food production but also the entire environment as a whole. The pollination crisis is particular important for Riverside because of its strong links to the agricultural industry, but is also situated in Southern California, which is global hot spot for bee diversity and home to more than 1500 species of different bees. 

 

Demo

For us, the loss of bees and their services is therefore not acceptable. This is why CALPIRG with the help of students have taken action to develop ways to change our communities back into bee friendly spaces. For UCR, our goal is to transform our campus into a certified bee friendly environment. To do this we need to plant bee friendly plants, drastically reduce the usage of pesticides harming bees, and protect and grow bee friendly habitats. We also believe that it is of crucial importance to raise awareness about the pollinator crisis to our fellow students and staff and therefore host educational events on a regular basis. 

If you are interested in taking action with us to save the bees and getting involved in your community and school, please join us!
Campaign Coordinator: Andrea Sanjines, asanj001@ucr.edu

CALPRIG saving UCR bees: beemail@gmail.com
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