Bees are dying at an alarming rate. Widespread use of pesticides and other harmful chemicals has contributed to the rapid decline in population of bees and many other pollinators. Though their value can appear trivial in an ecosystem full of so much life, these pollinators are absolutely vital element of human life. Protecting pollinators is a matter of protecting human food sources, plant biodiversity, and the stability of the ecosystem as a whole.

Just BEEcause is a two-pronged project aimed at raising awareness of the plight of bees and other pollinators as well as fundraising money for pollinator groups located in the DMV, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, area. Our project can be broken into two phases: education and fundraising. We first seek to educate primarily our campus population about the impacts of pollinators and their importance to biodiversity and human development. We designed a number of education documents, which have informed our own knowledge of the subject as well as have helped increase awareness of others. In November, we held a workshop in which we combined the two phases of our project, educating our peers about pollinators as well as working with them to try to create pieces that we hope to sell in the future to benefit our cause. We designed and created various stickers of bees and other pollinators and have begun working out the logistics of effectively fundraising with them. Phase two of our project involves these fundraising efforts. Selling the stickers and other products we have created, as well as utilizing other fundraising techniques we have learned throughout this project, we plan to raise money for local organizations in our area and contribute to the local movement to increase pollinator friendly gardens and increase awareness of the importance of pollinators to our community.