Public Invited to Flint River Wild Ones Meeting to Feature Discussion
and Showing of Film Vanishing of the Bees, Feb. 21
The Flint River Chapter of Wild Ones is all a-buzz about pollinators that support humans and the native plants that support them.

The group will host a screening of the documentary Vanishing of the Bees, narrated by Ellen Page. The screening will take place on Monday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. in room 1301 of Mott Community College's Regional Technology Center. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Please RSVP by calling (810) 762-0455.
Vanishing of the Bees is an 86-minute documentary that explores the cultural practices of bee keeping and possible causes of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). According to information listed on the film's website, honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives. The CCD phenomenon has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables. The film also explores the balance of trade in the honey industry.
Vanishing of the Bees follows two commercial beekeepers as they strive to keep their bees healthy and fulfill pollination contracts across the U.S. The film explores the struggles they face as they plead their case on Capital Hill and travel across the Pacific Ocean in the quest to protect their honeybees. The film was produced by Long Live the Queen LLC.
"This film provides a comprehensive view from the perspective of farmers and bee keepers in the food production industries," Rebecca Gale-Gonzalez, Wild Ones President explained. "As part of the discussion following the screening, we will present the findings of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, who partnered with bumble bee researchers and found that native bumble bees are also suffering. Xerces provides sound recommendations for helping us deal with this pervasive problem, and first on that list was to provide a diversity of native plants to support pollinators."

Wild Ones is an environmental education and advocacy group that promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities. For more information about Wild Ones, please call Rebecca Gale-Gonzalez, Mott Community College Marketing Assistant/Web Content Manager, who also serves as the Wild Ones president at (810) 762-0455.

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"Think before you print!"
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Rebecca Gale-Gonzalez, President
Flint River Wild Ones
Mott Community College
Marketing & Public Information
Marketing Assistant & Web Content Manager
Green Initiatives Team
Advisor to MCC Gardening Association and Environmental Club
(810) 762-0455

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Jim Withers, Pesident
Jim Dodder, Treasurer
Barb Applebee, Secretary
Mid-Michigan Beekeepers Club