DH Final

[00:00:00] Crystal: [00:00:00] Want to know how YouTube can be a force for nature. Head on over to forces for nature.com and sign up to receive a free guide with practical actions that you can start taking today. I’m crystal Z Macelli and welcome to the forces for nature show.

Do you find yourself overwhelmed with all the doom and gloom you hear of these days? Do you feel like you it’s just one person can’t really make it. Forces for nature cuts through that negativity. In each episode, I interview somebody who is doing great things for animals and the environment we talked through, the problem they’re addressing the solution.

They have found what keeps them going. And we’ll leave you with practical action tips so that you too can become a force for [00:00:45] nature. Today’s guests are Timothy Paul and Nicole Lindsey, the founders of Detroit. Their mission is to create sustainable human communities and bee populations by transforming vacant property, lots into pollinator friendly spaces.

Why is this important? In addition to the important work of revitalizing the city, the role that pollinators play in our lives has a much bigger impact than many people realize. In fact, most of the food we eat relies on bee pollination to reproduce. Vegetables nuts. Even the food for, to cattle, sheep, and pigs need pollinators.

Unfortunately, there have been staggering declines over the [00:01:30] past couple of decades in population numbers that science has greatly attribute to disease, pesticides, and habitat loss, but through efforts undertaken by Detroit hives and others, these and. Have hope.

Hi, Timothy and Nicole. Thank you so much for joining me on forces for nature. It’s so great to have you.

Timothy: [00:01:55] Hey, how are you doing? Thanks for having us great to be here.

Crystal: [00:01:58] So today we’re going to be mainly focusing on honeybees, but it’s important to note that there are between 16 and 20,000 bee species worldwide, and many of them are facing dangerous declines in their population numbers.

Can you tell me [00:02:15] what’s been affecting bees,

Timothy: [00:02:17] right? Well, I will say the number one decline or issue with most pollinators. It’s the lack of habitat for many years, we’ve done away with displacing our native bees pollinators and all insects alive by creating roads communities and developing freeways. And I think that the number one decline in pollinators is habitat loss.

But in addition to that, of course you have chemicals like pesticides or synthesize that cause danger to all of the things, but particularly pollinators and honeybees.

Crystal: [00:02:51] Why is this such a detrimental issue?

Timothy: [00:02:54] Well, everything has a purpose on this earth. So with pollinators, they’re responsible for [00:03:00] pollinating, most of the fruits and vegetables that we eat today.

Nicole: [00:03:02] Yup. And so also when you eliminate their habitat, you have no place for them to live. So they’re being displaced like to mention earlier. So if you’re displacing them, how are they going to survive?

Crystal: [00:03:14] Ironically Detroit, hasn’t been experiencing this decline in bee populations. Why is that?

Timothy: [00:03:21] Right. So with Detroit, it wasn’t planned.

There have been some downsides with Detroit, with the live of bankruptcy. And just a lot of stuff happening with our city on the down inside of things. So would that be said Detroit had a well over 90,000 vacant lots for many, many years, the city hasn’t been able to tend to these vacant properties. And over the time these vacant [00:03:45] properties haven’t been sprayed with any type of harmful chemicals.

So it’s considered undisturbed land or soil. They have tons of native wild flowers by chicories clovers, Danny Lyon. And many of these vacant homes are abandoned and you still have perennials are still there. And they’re being visited by insects and pollinators alike that has been boosting bee populations.

In fact, the university of Michigan, as well as Michigan state university has conducted studies where they sought the vacant lot side, a contributing factor to boosting native bee populations in Michigan is currently home to over 467. Native bees. And in addition to that, a study has been done [00:04:30] with the USDA.

In 2018, where they discovered that Michigan ranks number four and having the highest bee populations in the United States.

Crystal: [00:04:40] Great. That’s great

Timothy: [00:04:41] news. So yeah, with the Detroit rebounding, there’s a lot of revitalization happening in our city. One thing our organization is trying to do is maintain these green spaces, offer all of the things for people and pollinators.

So the argumentation, what we do is we work to create sustainable. For pollinators and the residents by transforming these vacant lots into educational green spaces or habitats for pollinators, because what we don’t want to do is have our city be totally revitalized that we, once again, this place or ginger fi are insects or [00:05:15] pollinators.

Nicole: [00:05:15] So we’re here to say that when people are developing community, that we include our insects when we’re developing. And so we reserve spaces.

Crystal: [00:05:25] It’s exciting to hear how great the bee populations are doing in Detroit, but conservationists can’t rejoice in the boost in bee numbers. When the reason behind it is so negative for the people.

I want to talk about how you made it a win-win for all the parties involved. But before that bees tend to have a bad rep and many people are afraid of them. You used to be one of them, Timothy. Can you tell me how you went from sweating them away to creating Detroit hives?

Timothy: [00:05:56] Absolutely. From swaddling away, running from them, trying to get out [00:06:00] of the way of these in which I thought were bees were actually wops.

It all started from dealing with a cough, the car. And trying everything to get rid of this cough and cold from trying home remedies to over the kind of medication to accidentally stumbling across local, raw honey, and learning about its importance from their consuming, the local raw honey. It got rid of my cough and cold that led me into just simply learning more about this product and what it can do for me, all the health benefits and et cetera.

And that led me down a weird spiraling, a road to learning how bees make this. From there. I gained an appreciation from the product to the beat. To the environment, to the native plants until the whole ecosystem. And from there, [00:06:45] Nicole, she began to see my entrance, Nicole, my co-founder and partner. She began to see my interest in learning more about local, raw honey, learning more about honey bees and how they make this special product, but how it’s important to have in cities like Detroit, especially underserved communities within our city, where we deal with food deserts, or we deal with food insecurity.

She made a very good suggestion that we should transform. A vacant lot into an educational AP area to solve many issues in our community to provide a social of our mental and financial impact whereby we can educate the next generation of leaders on sustainability. We can support the conservation of pollinators and once again, making a win-win situation with resonance by beautifying these ones that can lie to [00:07:30] improve the quality of life for all.

Crystal: [00:07:31] You mentioned that as Detroit is revitalizing, you’re trying to encourage green spaces. To stay within the communities. How are you able to do those? How are you able to convince developers and the governing bodies that this is important and needs to stay

Timothy: [00:07:50] several ways? I think I’ll start with the first way.

We recently conducted a research project with the university of Detroit mercy, where they’re conducting some research focused on pollen and nectar to see if our communities are where we have our hearts. Has enough forage or enough food sources, resources for our pollinators. If we do, then in fact, we can show that in research to say, [00:08:15] Hey, you know, our communities are providing enough food resource for pollinators.

If not, we can take this then research to the city of Detroit, to other developers to say, Hey, you know, we pollinators are crucial to our food supply. And what we’re looking for is more green spaces for our pollinators. And, and I think the second point is what we’re doing. Is leading the change. We’re actually doing that work.

So do our mission. We are in the forefront of leading that change and transforming bake a lot since the green space. In addition to that, we also work with community partners that have the same similar mission and transforming bake, a license to urban gardens or into floral gardens or perennial wildfire projects.

When you have a pollinators or [00:09:00] honeybees pair with an urban guy, You’re guaranteed to see an increase in your yield. So that means it provides food security for pollinators, do nectar and pollen resources, but also in return, those pollinators provide food security for us and return of fruits and vegetables.

It’s a win-win partnership with parenting honeybee, hives, or native bee homes and urban garden.

Nicole: [00:09:22] And then we also work with the school of public policy with university of Michigan and making Detroit official B city.

Timothy: [00:09:31] That’s right. I’m glad she mentioned. This is that we had the opportunity to partner with the Gerald R.

Ford school of public policy to introduce and pass a resolution, recognizing the city of Detroit as obesity. What this means is that we now [00:09:45] have the city full municipal support. And supporting the ethical treatment of partners, particularly native bees. And once again, Michigan is home to over 467 native bees.

Crystal: [00:09:57] Huh? Wow. That’s super cool. I mean, so, or obesity is a thing or is Michigan the first. No BS

Timothy: [00:10:06] thing. It’s a way to advocate for our pollinators, our native bees. And once again, there are over 20,000 bee species in the world. So it’s a way to advocate for our bees and you as a leader or a community organization, you can establish obesity or be campus that means working with a university to make your campus be friendly or working with the [00:10:30] city and this supposed to make your city be friendly.

Nicole: [00:10:34] Yeah. So you have to go through the Xerxes society. My that’s who advocates for the city USA. So you’ve been applied through there and to transform your city into a B city.

Crystal: [00:10:45] Can you spell that for me?

Nicole: [00:10:46] Xerxes,

Timothy: [00:10:48] E R

Nicole: [00:10:50] C E S.

Crystal: [00:10:53] I’ll include that in the resources section of the show notes, because that’s really interesting information for people to have.

So now you can’t just set up hives in neighborhoods or cities even, and expect people to not freak out. I can think of plenty of people who see a bee and think that they’re going to be attacked and out to [00:11:15] get them. How do you get buy-in from the neighbors?

Timothy: [00:11:18] Right? So like you mentioned, you just can’t, you know, especially a city like Detroit, You just can’t come in and set up highs without involving the community support on the best way that we were to get our community.

Buy-in. Is that we involve them. We educate the residents on our, our mission, our project, and how these bees will create a longterm impact, how they will create an outdoor learning space for their children to learn about pollinators, how this project will help increase our help, or provide some pollinator support for maybe the flowers they have grown in their yard.

Or maybe support their vegetation. They have growing in their garden. And in addition to that [00:12:00] helps provide financial economic mobility by using our hunting, to pair with local restaurants, by selling our honey locally, by driving more business to our community. But also improving the quality of life for the community.

So being able to transform this space into a green space to make the area safe. And in addition that educating the residents on the difference between bees and wasps, most residents, when they hear about bees, The first, I think a memory to business, a orchard or visiting some type of picnic where they were probably visited by a WAPs and recreate these community forums for the residents to ask them any question, they may have to kind of help dispel any type of myths.

And that’s where it all starts with education. [00:12:45] That’s where it started for Nicola. And I, we didn’t know the difference between bees and wives, but being educated on the difference and learning about the importance of pollinators and their behavior patterns. That fear has transformed into love, and that’s what we hope to instill and the next generation, as well as our communities.

So

Nicole: [00:13:03] just kind of boosting our communities by engaging them and nature. So we’ve been in communities where there haven’t been desirable. But there’s been this positive side where we have these tons of green spaces. So it allows us to be one with nature. And

Timothy: [00:13:21] a lot of times, most residents, they really haven’t had the opportunity to see a real beef farm.

We all love honey. We all love the precious product, but [00:13:30] many of us don’t know how bees make honey. And a lot of residents are interested. They want to know how bees make. They want to partake in honey tastings. And I think a lot of times what makes it easier as being from the community, being someone that they’re familiar with and having it within their local area, it’s a little bit more acceptable for them to want to learn more about the politics.

Plus a lot of youth that we have visit our beef farm or visit for high tours. They are very interested in learning about bees and pollinators. They’re really excited to see honeybees and to ask questions until gauge. And we believe that if it wasn’t for this project, they will never have this opportunity.

So a lot of times people are afraid of what’s not presented to them. They continue to have those same fears. They [00:14:15] continue to have those same myths or misbeliefs until the opportunity is presented to them, for them to ask those tough questions. For them to get involved and we create those hands on learning experiences to help them get over their fears of the bunk.

A lot of the myths that they had passed on consciously or subconsciously.

Crystal: [00:14:32] How long has Detroit hives been in business?

Timothy: [00:14:36] This marks our fourth year. So on May 23rd, this year, Detroit has, will be turning four years old.

Crystal: [00:14:41] And have you felt a tangible change in perspective and understanding and acceptance of what you do?

Timothy: [00:14:50] Absolutely. I think just to be able to work with the city of Detroit and recognizing our city as obesity, to be able to [00:15:00] expand, we started with our first project, the Eastern apiary. Now we’ve expanded ourselves into 15 locations, a proposal projected for this year and we’re managing 45 beehives in the city.

No one has ever been stunned at any of our tours. No one has ever been stung at any one of our project sites. And everyone’s embracing the idea of bees and pollinators. It’s become this new thing of what you desire to play is in spite of a vacant lot. So I think our project has definitely took off and inspired many people to care for pollinators as probably many others to seek beekeeping, inspire many others to create change within there.

Nicole: [00:15:39] Yeah. And then we’ve also found in national, urban beekeeping day, which is [00:15:45] July 19. Why don’t we pick July’s because theirs will be day in may, June. There is pollinator week. There’s nothing in July, August. You have world honeybee day and in September is national honeymoon. So we want to highlight our urban beekeepers that are up and coming and highlight the work that they’re doing through national, urban beekeeping.

Crystal: [00:16:07] In addition to doing the tours and having the apiaries and producing the honey, I’ve seen on your social, that you also take care of hives that are, I don’t know how you would say, would you say hives that have established themselves in people’s homes or.

Timothy: [00:16:26] Right. I think you’re referring to the two things we, uh, through our [00:16:30] mission, we also rescue honeybees swarm.

So when a colony begins to do a swarm and a swarm is a natural process when the Connie typically outgrows itself, but we rescue those swarms and we rehomed them give them a new home and safely relocate them to one of our apiary sites. So that’s one thing that we do provide for the community is rescuing those honeybees swarms.

In addition to that, we also safely relocate. Wash ness and harness nets from community residents and businesses locations. The reason why we do this is that it provides us an opportunity to educate the community on the difference between bees and wasps. Many times we get calls where people say, Hey, I have fees attached to my house or home, or, you know, on my property when in fact it’s actually [00:17:15] wasps or Hornets.

So this gives us an opportunity to educate them. But what really fueled us to focus on relocating Watson harness? Is that in 2020, just last year, a landscaper passed away from mowing over on the ground. Yellow Jack is next. And when, uh, this happened, the media put it on the news and said that this person was stung by bees.

And we know this wouldn’t be a good look for our organization. If people are in the city of Detroit or a landscape or being stung by bees and you have an organization that’s putting bees in communities, we want to find a way to change that narrative. So, you know, we sought out to find ways to safely relocate yellow jackets, as well as hornet’s nest by [00:18:00] using a BB.

Yeah, safely sucks them in a box. And we just, I mean, leased them into a desirable area where they can thrive.

Crystal: [00:18:09] That actually reminds me of a situation. A friend of mine is in his family just moves into a new home and they have carpenter bees in their roof. And so his immediate reaction is to exterminate them.

Is there a way that he could potentially. I mean he’s in Jersey, so he’s nowhere near you guys to take care of it, but is there a way that he can do it more humanely than exterminating them and using all those chemicals and everything?

Timothy: [00:18:34] Yeah. So it was really cool that you brought this up, you know, we’re actually working on establishing our own community learning center.

And one of the things that we allowed to [00:18:45] include in this futuristic design. It’s having a panel of all native bee homes built into the house. So it’s welcoming to have native bees into the house and we want to create a design element. That’s inclusive for the home. In addition to your question is like, what can you do?

Let’s say he may not want carpenter bees shacking up. Because

Crystal: [00:19:07] don’t they eat your house? Don’t they eat into the wood of your home?

Timothy: [00:19:11] Yeah, they definitely do. They’re looking for habitat. Like I said, if we were to create those habitats, it wouldn’t be trying to dig into our home. So

Nicole: [00:19:22] they have trees and everything for them to

Timothy: [00:19:24] stay and we left those habitats for them. They wouldn’t be bothering us. So what [00:19:30] do some natural solutions is? He can play stuff or not. Or purchase a native bee home nearby and place native wild flowers on nearby to encourage those carpenter bees or any type of a native bee to take on that new home.

And that will help provide local food and shelter for those carpenter bees nearby. In addition to that, when you can also do is a rub, some peppermint oil, some strong peppermint oil, and that would really the tear, those cover the bees, any bees, any. From one of the internet at home, it’s a natural oil. It just doesn’t smell good to the ear

Nicole: [00:20:06] or like a central Nella or like a centrist essential oil is also good.

It’s a place. There were pills them as well. They don’t like that smell. [00:20:15] Yeah.

Crystal: [00:20:15] Yeah. That’s great. Practical advice. I’m going to relay that information as soon as I get off this call with you now, can you tell me about a time when you said to yourself. This is why I do it. It could be a success story or a proud moment that you’ve had.

Timothy: [00:20:34] I think it is when I came across that article last year, where they said Michigan ranks, number four, would having the highest bee populations and that this has been studies. They started like since 2018. I think that was. Yeah, this is why we do it. This does one of them. This is why we do it because we started, I mentioned 2017 and of course we’re not the only ones keeping hives in the city of Detroit or in Michigan.

[00:21:00] But to be a part of that change is, is it shows our impact. And you look at other cities that may not rank high and be populations, but to be a part of the change that shows where our impact is that it shows that we’re contributing to the bee populations. It’s all pollinators or bees is a world.

Michigan is playing this part and addressing that in addition to my why or the reasons that, you know, I’ll say affirm, why we, why we do what we do is really being able to reach those people that don’t want to deal with BS, or some people would view as the hard work. You know, it’s easy to go to a school where, and this is me personally talking.

It’s easy to reach out to those people that are already familiar with bees that love bees that want to support your organization. Because this [00:21:45] is a such a cool idea because they love pollinated because he love environment and they really are into that. But how do you reset person that doesn’t want to be outside?

It doesn’t like flowers that doesn’t like bugs or insects. And I think that’s one thing that I take, or I would say we both take pride in is being able to engage, reach, or inspire that person to want to come out. To learn about be to want to plant flowers and to want to maybe even potentially host a hive or an that’d be home in their home.

How do you do that? How do you engage that person? How do you make it exciting without signing like a professor or someone that may not be relatable to them? Someone that they may not be familiar with [00:22:30] in their community, or, I mean, how do you reach that person? That’s our, why that’s really inspires me in the code.

Yeah,

Nicole: [00:22:37] absolutely. So helping people get over their fears, open their eyes to something new that they never thought they’d be able to experience before. But then also gain recognized by certain people like getting recognized by the city of Detroit about what we’re doing, getting recognized with certain awards by certain organizations, or even being invited to speak to entomology conferences and things like that.

So that kind of show that we’re going in the right direction.

Crystal: [00:23:06] Where you were just speaking about it. It’s such a great example of how one person or one organization connected [00:23:15] with all the others who are doing something have such a big, important impact. You guys, with the rest of the beekeepers and beehives in Michigan have made it number four in the states.

And that’s huge. And that’s so important for pollinators because they’re in such peril right now. So. It is quite an important impact that you guys are having. And speaking of that, diversity is vital for healthy ecosystems. Is Detroit hives doing anything for native bee species? Not just the honey.

Timothy: [00:23:50] Yeah.

So I’m glad you mentioned that here to try. We do believe in being diversity and inclusion. I don’t want to sell in Michigan. I haven’t informed the 67 native bees. We wanted to create an [00:24:00] ecological balance because honeybees, unfortunately, they are an introduced species. They’re a non-native species here in this region.

Ah,

Crystal: [00:24:07] that’s right. They’re introduced, but they’re not invasive.

Timothy: [00:24:12] It’s only invasive. If you’re not creating a ecological balance, if you, if you don’t believe in diversity and inclusion, all of our spaces do not service APRA sites or education or eighth grade science to introduce honeybee hives. Some of our sites, we have made a wild flowers and also non-native wallflowers.

They provide pollen and nectar for honeybees, but also native bees or insects. And also tomato plants. We work with community gardens and we have also small gardens at our sites. And they’re visited by bumblebees [00:24:45] honeybees. Can’t pollinate effectively a tomato plant because it requires a heavier buzz to shake that column, not that flower and that’s effectively done by a bumblebee.

So as long as you create an environment, that’s inclusive for all of the things, everyone should be able to throw. Yeah.

Nicole: [00:25:00] And to piggyback off what you said, there are specialist species of bees that only promenade, only particular, certain flowers. And so if we don’t acknowledge them or put, create them a habitat, then we’ll lose them.

You know, at first people were only saying that honeybees were the only ones that were dying, but now we know that there are native bees that are all dying too, but it’s not just the bee species. There’s a tons of insects that are out dying that we don’t keep that some people who haven’t done research [00:25:30] on.

So every insect serves a purpose in our ecosystem. So we let them eliminate just one of those. Then it supplies food for maybe another species that we need that help something else. So if we’re re removed that, then there is no.

Crystal: [00:25:46] I’m really glad that you made that very important point because some people may not realize that honeybee is aren’t going to pollinate all of the flowers and all of the food that we eat, our food, like you were saying with the tomatoes and the bumblebees, it gets pollinated by all different kinds of bees and other insects and pollinating mammals.

So we need them for the diversity of life and for ourselves, for our own food system.

Nicole: [00:26:14] Yeah. And [00:26:15] it’s not just like for our food, it’s for the food that we eat food, you know what I mean? Even if you’re growing, even if you’re vegan and you’re growing certain vegetables, right. So there might be a particular insect that repels or eats on that and say, that might be eaten on your spinach or something like that.

So you have to think of outside of yourself. So they create this place. All of things. Everyone’s

Crystal: [00:26:43] food. Totally. That reminds me of regenerative agriculture, which I’m a big proponent of, because it looks at the whole picture of an ecosystem and how things benefit one another. And yeah, but that’s, that’s a side note that we don’t have to go down [00:27:00] now.

What can the listener do to help be populations wherever the listener themselves may be.

Timothy: [00:27:06] What kind of listener do listening in and wants to help say the pollinators or help contribute in their own way? I think of the first thing is they have to see bees as people or see partners is people themselves.

They require local food sources and also water sources too, just like we do. So what they can do is create a water source in their own home or backyard. By taking a shallow bowl, a filler with some, some stones or some rocks so that the bees can safely land on. They can also plant native wild flowers in their backyard, not only to beautify their home, but also to provide food sources or pollinators as well.

So that planning flowers in [00:27:45] your backyard, or by creating a water source in your home. And that’s, that’s helping to provide food, shelter and water. For pollinators

Nicole: [00:27:52] and also using less chemicals. So look for natural ways to make your grass green or things like that. They like to have organic chemical free food that they go eat on.

Just like we do so great in an environment that is healthy for them.

Timothy: [00:28:11] Volunteer, volunteer. To help another local organization that believes or supports conservation and pollination initiatives, whether it’s a beekeeper, whether it’s planting trees, whether it’s supporting or protecting our water or air is being a good store for the environment is a good [00:28:30] way that they can help volunteer and give back.

Nicole: [00:28:34] Yeah. And just had the honey bee high point of view. So like in a honeybee hive, they’re super organisms. And everybody plays their part for the greater good of the hat. So if somebody is playing their part to make sure our water is protected, or somebody is playing their part to make sure our air’s protected or somebody is playing their part to make sure our bees are surviving.

So I was creating habitats and reserving green spaces. So they all playing their part for the greater good of our earth. So just having that honey beehive mindset.

Crystal: [00:29:06] And also, if you do have a swarm at your home, see if there’s someone like you guys, Detroit hives that can come and take [00:29:15] care of it for you rather than you having to exterminate them, put out all these chemicals and whatnot.

Timothy: [00:29:22] Absolutely. So, yeah, you see a swarm don’t panic. Don’t be afraid. Contact your local beekeeper, or if you’re a local. Your new story content and Troy will come out safely relocate those honeybees and place it at a safe spot for them to thrive and support the conservation upon it.

Crystal: [00:29:40] How can people get more information about you guys?

Timothy: [00:29:43] Right. So we welcome people to join the high by following us on social media at Detroit hives, visit our website at www dot Treehouse. Yeah, there you visit our website. You can find our email there to volunteer, [00:30:00] or you look into donate to support a mission or purchase some of our products that can definitely help us further our mission here at Detroit,

Nicole: [00:30:08] but also share our posts, sharing our polls, liking and engaging with us following us.

Timothy: [00:30:14] Yeah, that’s all emotional crises. So we welcome emotional currency. Why cannot pay standard? Our comments? Just being able to pass on that education for others and get other people inspired as well.

Crystal: [00:30:28] Timothy and Nicole, you guys are doing incredible work. Thank you for all that you do, and you’re making it.

A study by Rutgers university found that crops are pollination limited. Meaning crop production would be higher if crop flowers received more [00:30:45] pollination. This decline in bee species is both a conservation and an agricultural issue that can have disastrous consequences for global food security and ecosystems as a whole.

It may be hard to imagine that so much as dependent on these small pesky insects that we SWAT away a picnic. But at the risk of sounding dramatic, they’re vital to our very survival. Fortunately, there are easy ways for us to help that begin in our own backyards. You can get started today. Don’t forget to go to forces for nature.com and sign up to receive emailed show notes, action tips, and a free guide to help you start taking practical actions today.

Do you know someone else who would [00:31:30] enjoy this episode? I would be so grateful if you would share it. Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook. And let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting. Just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a million people also adopted that, what difference for the world are you going to make today?