Quentin Given, 58, plans to ride his bicycle from London to Edinburgh in an effort to support bees.
The bee population has fallen dramatically, and Given, working full time for Tottenham and Wood Green Friends of the Earth, hopes to make a difference by cycling 510 miles next week.
The campaign, known as the Bee Cause, is one of the many Tottenham and Wood Green Friends of the Earth projects which will benefit from the journey. The organization’s other goals include promoting solar energy and preventing climate change.
Given said: “Cycling is part of the solution to some of the problems for health and environment and people doing things like this is demonstrating alternatives to the current way of doing things.
“It is not like saying to the government ‘we must do this’- there are so many things we need to do to bring the bees back, and we need to come up with an action plan.”
Mr. Given believes that the community is obligated to combine their efforts to save the bees. Though the exact cause is unknown, the honey bee population in the UK has fallen 54% in the last two decades. Some theories suggest that pesticide or parasites may be responsible.
As of April 25th, Given raised $2,504 for the cause.
Bees are an important member of ecology, and human society benefits from them greatly. The bee population is responsible for pollinating flowers, which are important for their beauty and fresh scents, as well as for producing fruit. Many areas depend on their produce in order to live, and the entire region’s economy can be affected by fruit production in the long run as well.