{"id":11915,"date":"2019-03-06t23:23:43","date_gmt":"2019-03-06t23:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/artist-advocate-creates-bee-mural-at-the-national-zoo\/"},"modified":"2023-02-28t18:36:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28t18:36:14","slug":"bee-mural-national-zoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/bee-mural-national-zoo\/","title":{"rendered":"artist, advocate creates bee mural at the national zoo"},"content":{"rendered":"

when artist matthew willey found a bee on the floor of his paint studio in new york city 10 years ago, he got down on his knees and really saw a honey bee for the first time in his life.<\/p>\n

willey looked at the creature as an artist, not just as a regular observer, and noticed the hairs on the eyeballs, the hairs on the legs, and all-around \u201ccuteness\u201d that he hadn\u2019t seen before when bees were flying around in his yard.<\/p>\n

while he didn\u2019t know it at the time, the bee was sick and died a mere two hours after landing in willey\u2019s studio. he put the bee in the backyard and came back inside to start researching honey bees. that\u2019s when willey discovered a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder.<\/p>\n

\u201ci was fascinated that this giant, globally devastating thing was happening, and i had heard nothing about it, not a headline in the newspaper,\u201d willey said.  <\/p>\n

colony collapse disorder occurs when hives are abandoned<\/a> by worker bees without a definitive cause. scientists have pointed to excessive pesticide-use, like roundup, and the presence of varroa mites \u2013 parasitic creatures that latch onto bees \u2013 as probable instigators of colony collapse.<\/p>\n

more than 30 percent of hives in the u.s. collapsed<\/a> in 2013 due to this phenomenon, according to the environmental protection agency.<\/p>\n

\"willey
(photo courtesy of good of the hive)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

altruistic self-removal \u2013 where bees remove<\/a> themselves from a hive if they are sick \u2013 is also becoming a more common practice among honey bees who do so for the good of the hive. the bee instinctively realizes that their immune system is collective \u2013 it\u2019s based on the hive and not the individual bee.  <\/p>\n

beekeepers lost<\/a> more bees in the summer than the winter months for the first time in 2015, even though hive collapse is more common in the winter. sustainability experts say if colony collapse continues at the same rate, honey bees managed for agricultural purposes will die out by 2035.<\/p>\n

the sharp decline in honey bees will also impact agricultural costs, which are estimated to rise<\/a> $5.7 billion each year, according to a 2011 natural resources defense council report. for major cash crops in california \u2013  like almonds that generate nearly $3 billion each year \u2013 the decline in bees could have devastating results as almonds use about half of the honey bees in the united states alone.<\/p>\n

now, willey leads the project \u201cthe good of the hive<\/a>.\u201d through the initiative \u2013 which he started more than three years ago \u2013 willey will paint 50,000 bees in murals around the world, the same amount of bees found<\/a> in a healthy hive.<\/p>\n