By Elizabeth Toy
You can thank bees for one in every three bites of food you eat. Pollinators like bats, bees, and butterflies work long hours pollinating every year and provide humans with millions of dollars’ worth of products.
Two of the most popular products are honey and beeswax. But you don’t have to eat honey or use beeswax to benefit from bees. However, if you are eco-conscious and living a cruelty-free lifestyle, you actually gain from the work of bees through cross-pollination.
Save The Bees With Your Beauty Routine & Garden
According to the National Resource Defence Council, “cross-pollination helps at least 30 percent of the world’s crops and 90 percent of our wild plants to thrive. Without bees to spread seeds, many plants—including food crops—would die off.”
Can you imagine living in a world without bees? Sadly the bee population is decreasing, but there are ways we can make a difference and help!
Bees have gotten a bad reputation over the years because of their not-so-pleasant defense mechanism (their sting). And because of this, the bee population drastically decreased in the last decade.
In some states, up to 50% of the bee population has died out, mainly due to pesticides that target bees. In addition to that, bumblebees have been proposed for U.S endangered species status.
A lot of bee-produced beauty products have tremendous benefits. Honey and lemon face masks remove impurities from deep within pores and leave a soft feeling behind. Beeswax, a key ingredient in several lip balms, is anti-inflammatory, an antioxidant, and an antibacterial, which makes it perfect for soothing lips.
What can we do to help?
If you’re not a vegan or even you are a vegan who eats honey (the topic is debatable), you can help protect bees by buying products that bees produce and providing an economic incentive to increase the bee population. Burt’s Bees built a massive company with simple, natural ingredients and bees as the forefront of the brand.
Not only do they use beeswax as a main ingredient in most products, but they acquire both honey and beeswax in the most natural ways possible. On top of that, they have a #BringBackTheBees initiative and have pledged to plant one billion wildflower seeds that attract bees for pollination.
Buying products that use safely-collected beeswax is a great start to fighting against bee decline.
Secondly, say “thank you” to the bees and help their populations grow by planting a bee-friendly garden. More bees means more biodiversity and a more beautiful environment to enjoy. Below is a list of plants that bees like to pollinate.
Lastly, help save the bees by building your own bee kit to help bees make a hive. Whether or not you’re vegan, you’ll get to enjoy the free honey, beeswax, and pollen to create your own beauty and holistic health products.
