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This Christmas we give beehives away
ATCommunication will support Italian beekeepers through 3bee to remind us that we must always protect what is precious.
Words by Miriam | Styling by Beatrice
16 December 2021
In 1958, Mao Zedong accused the small birds that populated the Chinese skies of stealing part of the wheat and rice harvest from the rural population. He involved the peasants in what went down in history as the ‘Great Anti-birdcatcher Campaign’ where eight million birds were killed, frightened and prevented from roosting in the trees, forcing them to fly until they died out of starvation and exhaustion. The following year the country was literally invaded by locusts and other pests, as their natural predators were almost totally eliminated. That caused an unprecedented famine that lasted about ten years, leading to the death of between 15 and 55 million people with episodes of violence and cannibalism.
Not the story you’d expect to read for Christmas, is it? Yet, even this one has something in common with the holiday tales: it has a moral. It teaches us that every little being on this planet plays a fundamental role in the circle of life, and breaking this age-old balance causes terrible and irreparable consequences.
This Christmas, we don’t want fairy tales that take us far from reality. What would make us happy is to have – and give away – the chance to write a better story. That’s why we have thought of donating beehives, a unique way to help protect the natural cycle that allows us to live on Earth.
Thanks to an initiative by the startup 3Bee, we will adopt hives from Italian beekeepers that our customers will be able to follow in their growth, progress and health, directly from their smartphones, and they will even have the opportunity to receive the honey produced.
Bees are a fundamental link in the entire food chain. Thanks to their tireless pollination work, these tiny creatures are responsible for around 80% of the food we eat every day. Today, climate change, pesticides, disease, and toxic clouds are constantly threatening their survival. With the adoption certificate, concrete support is given to the daily fight of beekeepers to keep these indispensable players in the natural ecosystem healthy. This year we have learnt that we must defend what is important, not only for our survival as humans, but above all for the preservation of our conscience as human beings.
About 3bee
3Bee is an agri-tech company and startup that develops intelligent monitoring and diagnostic systems for bee health. Through these unique technologies beekeepers can constantly and comprehensively monitor their hives in order to optimise production, save time and treat their bees by preventing problems and diseases.
In two years a network of 10,000 beekeepers throughout Italy has been developed and the research, development, and circular economy programme “Adopt a hive” has been created.