Bees. They, like many insects that exist on this planet with us, are indispensable to our ecosystem. How so, you ask? Pollination, my friends. The Bee Movie pretty much sums up how, albeit in a simplified manner, but the gist is in it.
To this end, 90 percent of all flowering plant species in the world depend on animal pollinators and that includes around a third of the world’s food supply. Now, you see how important bees’ service is?
However, due to industrialization, urbanization, monoculture farming and more, bees’ work have been threatened and this in turn, result in dwindling population to the extend that they are facing the prospect of extinction.
Needless to say that is not good. So, in order to restore balance, the non-Thanos way, SPACE10 – an external innovation hub of Swedish flat pack furniture giant, IKEA, introduces Bee House project.
This open-source design project was developed in collaboration with Amsterdam-based Bakken & Bæck and designer Tanita Klein lets you build a house for these bees. In addition to a shelter for the bees, you will also need to plant some flowers for them to work on and after that, nature will do the rest.
A little help goes a long way. And oh, don’t expect to be harvesting honey, though. Because, bee house is aimed at solitary bees, not honey bees. Solitary bees are the most common pollinating bees among the 20,000-30,000 bee species in the world.
Solitary bees, as the term implies, live mostly alone and just working their ass off gathering pollen and collecting food for the next generation. Apparently, each solitary bee can pull off pollination as 120 honeybees. And they are totally coexist with us humans, children included, and pets too.
If you are interested in chipping in, you can learn how you can get your own Bee House HERE, or jump straight into designing one yourself HERE.
Images: SPACE10/Tanita Klein.
Source: designboom.
