Advocating for bees in New York City: An educational initiative

Urban environments such as New York City have seen a rising interest in creating food sustainability through the protection and conservation of public spaces like community gardens. Community gardens provide a space for urban food systems and promote education and access to nutritious foods. As part of these initiatives, residents have an increased curiosity and interest in the yield of the crops they grow including the local pollinators that serve the plants. Over the last year we have collaborated with the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, who run initiatives to restore, sustain, and educate residents while providing community support. Our work focused on a non-lethal data collection strategy to create an inventory of native pollinators in the gardens during different seasons and we identified numerous bee species other than Apis mellifera. Despite this, we realized that many locals were unaware of the presence or biology of native species. To address this, we have designed community workshops in Manhattan, NYC to help them identify, protect, and sustain native bee species in their gardens while plant mindfully to support the populations. Throughout the summer we held several events at community gardens that were free to the community. This event attracted local gardeners, and garden enthusiasts to engage in community garden efforts. Here, we present the educational initiatives we created that may lay the groundwork for civilians to advocate for insects in a variety of social and political settings, helping us remain resilient against tumultuous times in both our atmospheric and political climates.