A Mount Isa beekeeper is educating children on how to help increase the dwindling population of bees.
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No one know more about bees in this region than Bluey Beeman, and Bluey is worried.
"Bees pollinate everything. Without pollination we will have no food," Bluey said.
He quotes no less an authority than Albert Einstein who reportedly said, "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years to live."
"Four years may sound exaggerated but the fact remains that the disappearance of bees would be highly devastating to most plant life which we depend on," Bluey said.
"Here in Queensland we could use another 100,000 hives just to keep up with demand for pollination of fruit."
Bluey has been traveling to local shows, exhibitions and community days to education children about bees in a fun and interactive learning experience.
With a slideshow and colouring-in games, Bluey teaches children on how a beehive works and also how to save bees from harmful pesticides.
"It is important to educate everyone about the importance of bees," he said
"If we don't do something about it now there will be no bees left due to harmful chemicals like Round Up and pesticides."
Bluey said these chemicals had a major impact on bee populations.
"It makes them very sick, disorientated and they can't find their way back to the hive," he said.
"So I am trying to educate everyone on more natural ways to keep bees alive, the best natural pesticide is vinegar, lemon juice and salt and to plant natural trees like Australian Jelly Bush."
Bluey now wants to host information seminars at local schools.
"I would love to go into schools to educate kids more about these affects and how great bees are," he said.
"Sadly most of the schools cannot raise the funds to get us into the classroom so we would require Glencore or someone to come on board and assist financially.
"If we could get $50,000 we could easily do all the schools in Mount Isa up to grade 12. If a grade 12 student could stick their head in a bee hive and know themselves around it, there would be plenty of jobs on the east coast screaming out for them for employment."
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