Helping the pollinators is a cause near and dear to my heart. Their decline has been overwhelming in recent decades due to climate change, habitat loss and pesticide use.
During the Corona pandemic, the grass in our park has bee cut less with council workers being spread thin and working less. Theres been so many wild flowers/weeds popping up here and there, giving pollinators much needed revitalisation. While walking my dog Scout in the park recently, I noticed so many beautiful flowers that are considered weeds, even buttercups, which are usually mowed over.
The thought popped into my head then, leave the weeds, save the bees. A simple task that seems hard to imagine in an era of manicured properties.
With my passion for drawing is growing more and more, and with that growth, I’m focusing more energy on phrases that relate to me or the issues I care about. That Saturday I began to sketch this into an illustration on my ipad.
The original illustration had a great response on my Instagram, with this momentum, I adapted the drawing to create a t-shirt campaign on Mercht.com. I sent out a few polls to see which coloured shirts would be everyones favourite and after collating them into one, I uploaded a black option with white text and also a yellow, pink and white option with black text.
I decided to donate a portion of the profits to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust as well.
Join the Mercht Campaign
Other ways you can help save the bees
Plant bee friendly plants – A big reason why bees are in decline is because of loss of their habitats. Planting wildflowers, native plants to your area and other bee friendly plants (ask your local garden centre whats best if you’re unsure) can help give bees the much needed nutrition they need.
Cut the chemicals – If you’re still using pesticides in your garden, cut it out. Not only do these kill the ‘pests’ they’re also killing all the other bugs you may like, such as lady bugs and bees.
Give bees a drink – Leave a shallow bowl of fresh water out for bees to hydrate. But keep in mind, bees cant swim so make sure they have something to float on or walk out onto. Wine corks works great.