Would you like to discover more amazing facts about pollinators and learn more about their hard work? On 8 August, celebrate Great Bee Day with us at selected nature institutions in Lower Silesia as part of the fifth, anniversary edition of the “With Kujawski, We Help Bees” program. The campaign is organized by Zakłady Tłuszczowe “Kruszwica” S.A., with Fundacja Nasza Ziemia as its strategic partner.

8 August 2015 Great Bee Day will be held for the third time at more than 50 nature institutions throughout Poland. On that day, visitors will be able to learn more about bees and other pollinators, as well as what we can do every day to protect them. In Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Great Bee Day will be celebrated by:

  • Stołowe Mountains National Park
  • Karkonosze National Park
  • Lower Silesian Landscape Parks Complex – Jelenia Góra branch
  • Botanical Garden of the University of Wrocław.

Visitors can enjoy a range of attractions, including educational games, quizzes, workshops and a meeting with a beekeeper. Those who wish to discover the fascinating world of bees and other pollinators can enter most participating institutions free of charge by giving the password “Great Bee Day.” The list of institutions involved in Great Bee Day is available at www.pomagamypszczolom.pl.

The celebrations are organized by Zakłady Tłuszczowe “Kruszwica” S.A. The fifth edition of the “With Kujawski, We Help Bees” program is held under the honorary patronage of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Centre for Education Development, and several educational authorities, voivodeship offices and marshal’s offices.

What do we receive thanks to the hard work of bees and other pollinators?

For the “With Kujawski, We Help Bees” program, a study entitled “We Help Bees – Consumers’ Awareness and Knowledge of Environmental Issues” was conducted. The results show that we are often unaware of how many products we use every day are obtained thanks to pollination by bees and other pollinators. The residents of Greater Poland primarily associate these beneficial insects with honey (99%) and wax sheets (91%). Difficulties begin when they are asked to name the other results of pollinators’ hard work. Just under one-third of Lower Silesian Voivodeship residents (28%) know that coffee is a product made possible by the pollination of coffee plants by bees and other pollinators, even though 76% of those surveyed in Lower Silesia drink it at least once a day. As many as 99% of respondents in the region cannot imagine removing fresh vegetables and fruit from their daily diet; without bees and other pollinators, we would not have as much as 90% of fresh fruit or 4,000 varieties of vegetables. 81% of Lower Silesian Voivodeship residents know that rapeseed oil is produced thanks to the pollination of rapeseed flowers.

The work of bees and other pollinators provides more than just food. 57% of Lower Silesia residents have heard the name bee propolis, but do not fully know what the term means. This sticky resinous substance, collected by bees from buds, trees and shrubs, has medicinal properties and has been used in medicine for centuries. Propolis has a beneficial effect on the respiratory system – 81% of the region’s residents identify it as a treatment for flu and colds, while 87% know that it is used to make cosmetics. At the same time, only 20% of respondents in the region know that propolis is used, for example, in cancer treatment.

What else do we obtain thanks to the work of bees and other pollinators? Respondents point to products containing beeswax – 79% mention candles, and 70% face creams. At the same time, more than one-third of Lower Silesia residents (33%) are unaware that bees and other pollinators make lipstick possible, while more than half of respondents (58%) do not realize that popular cotton T-shirts are made possible by pollinators.

The study results show how greatly Poles need reliable knowledge about nature, especially children and young people. That is why the organizers of the “With Kujawski, We Help Bees” program created Great Bee Day, a celebration intended to draw public attention to the immense and irreplaceable role of bees, as well as their protection and decline. Great Bee Day helps fill the knowledge gap among Poles concerning these beneficial insects.

“The study results show how little we know about pollinators, even though we owe them so much. Thanks to bees and other pollinators, we have one-third of the world’s food supply – fresh vegetables and fruit, jams, mustard, nuts and almonds. We hope that awareness of the important role played by bees and other pollinators will foster a positive attitude toward them, and that every day, when reaching for our favorite products, we will think of them. In keeping with the slogan of the fifth anniversary edition of the program, ‘Be a Friend of Bees – Give It a Five!’, we encourage everyone to live in friendship with these beneficial insects. We warmly invite you to celebrate Great Bee Day together on 8 August at institutions throughout Poland,” says Małgorzata Strzelec of ZT “Kruszwica” S.A., the organizer of the “With Kujawski, We Help Bees” program.

The study “We Help Bees – Consumers’ Awareness and Knowledge of Environmental Issues” was commissioned by the “With Kujawski, We Help Bees” program and conducted in March 2015 by the GFK Polonia research agency. The study was carried out on a nationwide, representative sample of Poles aged 15 and over (sample size N=1227).

More information is available at www.pomagamypszczolom.pl.

www.pomagamypszczolom.pl