Bee colonies around the world are dying at alarming rates. No more so than in the USA, where it is estimated the 44% of colonies were lost in 2016 alone. There are many reasons for this alarming decline, most of which are down to us.
Things like overuse of pesticides, diesel fumes, intensive farming practices and parasites from introduced species have contributed, and if things don’t improve soon we could face a major collapse in our food supply. Because you see, these tiny, hard-working creatures are an integral part of many ecosystems and pollinate up to 80% of our crops, and if they were to continue dying at these rates we can say goodbye to many of the plants that we rely on, as well as a whole plethora of other creatures that need them too.
Image credits: NORDDDB
Some Mcdonald’s in Sweden are doing their bit to help our vitally important friends, by hosting beehives on the roofs of their restaurants. Some are also planting flowers outside too, providing a bee-friendly environment that has helped to boost the population in the Scandinavian country. Pretty cool right?
Image credits: NORDDDB
To pay tribute to these efforts, Mcdonald’s commissioned a professional carpenter to make the ‘smallest ever Mcdonald’s,” which is, in fact, a fully functioning beehive featuring a McDonald’s sign, drive-through, an outside seating area and even little advertisements on the windows!
Image credits: NORDDDB
Image credits: NORDDDB
The impressive level of detail has not gone unnoticed by the customers at the “McHive,” Bored Panda spoke to one diner, who said, as far as we could make out, that he was “buzzing.”
Image credits: NORDDDB
Image credits: NORDDDB
With 37,000 restaurants around the globe, the Swedish initiative could prove to be a huge help to bees if it is adopted in other countries.
Image credits: NORDDDB
“We have a lot of really devoted franchisees who contribute to our sustainability work, and it feels good that we can use our size to amplify such a great idea as beehives on the rooftops,” said Christoffer Rönnblad, marketing director of McDonald’s Sweden, in an interview with Adweek.
Image credits: NORDDDB
Image credits: NORDDDB
The EU recently enforced a total ban on the outdoor use of neonicotinoids, widely used pesticides that endanger bees and have contributed sharply to their decline.
Image credits: NORDDDB
Image credits: NORDDDB
In the US, however, the current administration approved a dump of bee-killing pesticides on 16 million acres of land with the use of ’emergency’ approval to save cotton crops. While this may have worked in the short term, the lack of long term care for a vital pollinator reflects badly on the US government’s commitment to serious environmental issues.
Image credits: NORDDDB
Image credits: NORDDDB
What do you think? Should Mcdonald’s pick up this initiative beyond Swedish shores? Are mega-corporations like this to be applauded for taking the lead on vital environmental issues, or are they just jumping on the bandwagon for marketing purposes? Let us know your opinion in the comments below!
Image credits: NORDDDB
Image credits: NORDDDB
Image credits: NORDDDB
Here’s what people had to say, complete with the inevitable puns
Any thing that put attention on bees and the environment is good. Who cares if the company does it for markteting purposes. They can make honey-mustard dressing with the honey <3
That's great! Sure, it's partly a PR stunt, but these days, what isn't? And the benefit the bees get is real.
say what you want about McDonalds and their broken ice cream machine, they are the goat for this.
I'm an American - it annoys me to no end that they just dump pesticides in order to save one thing, while killing something we all need. What is wrong with this country? I am highly allergic to bees, but I gladly give them sugar water so they stick around my neighborhood. They are amazing creatures.
It is pure Marketing since these bee houses are too identical to McDonald's restaurant.
What a nice change, to see McDonalds doing something good. It would be lovely to see this in other countries too.
My boyfriend and I have three beehives on our terrace, in the middle of a residential area. Our bees never bother ANYBODY, and never venture into our house. We have had breakfast next to the hives with no bees even coming to check out what we were eating. Bees are not wasps, guys. They are truly not annoying or aggressive, and will only sting you if you are mistreating the hive. They are lovely, if unorthodox pets, and I encourage any of you who can, to consider getting a beekeeping license, supporting the industries which protect bees, reserving a portion of your garden for bee hives, or just planting flowers and fruit trees!
Jollibee should do the same! given the fact that, well uhm he's a bee
Curious that the 'customer interview' at Mickey-D's hive was with a male bee, given that drones' feeding is finished once the Queen has her airborne orgy ;)
It definitely makes it convenient for those bees that want Honey with their Chicken McNuggets!
Bandwagon-jumping. If they were serious, McDonald's would work to get bans of neonicotinoids in ALL countries in which they work. They would save millions more bees than this stunt will. They could run campaigns in the restaurants to educate consumers. They could donate to organizations working for a ban on pesticides. They could hand out seeds for bee garden plants. To have a real effect, they have to build thousands of these around the world. Then I'd take it seriously. For now, it's a stunt. Also, if they we're serious about the environment, they would offer a vegan burger. Some burgers chains here in Canada offer them and they're doing great. Beef cattle are HUGE contributors of carbon both by the land they live on, which is no longer is oxygen-producing carbon-soaking forest, and by the methane they produce.
Could it bee the chemtrails sprayed across our skies all over the globe on a daily basis? Their dumping chemicals on us while we have our heads down addicted to artificial intelligence on our phones and tablets at every chance we get. Look up a few times a week and ask yourself is this normal? Are these the skies, clouds and sun I remember or? I Every living creature is beeing effected by chemtrails. Blaming it on us for using to much of anything is in No comparison to what they dump on all of us. Take it or leave it but that's my wide shared prospective. Peace Love and Bee good to your neighbors all!
One may wonder about the chemicals _willfully_ consumed by those 'specially-enlightened beings' who declare' that some vapors in the skies outweigh the environmental effects of producing 400 million tonnes of plastics annually.
Load More Replies...I guess we're gonna have fat bees now too. Thanks Mickey D's! Probably hypertensive...diabetic...lolz
If you build it they will come! Get busy here & around the world.
Important thing to note, all of the bees you see out pollinating flowers and making honey are female. The male drones only exist to fertilize the queen, then they die because the act of mating literally rips their penis from their bodies.
I mention this mostly for the author of the article, they should change the pronoun in this line: ‘Bored Panda spoke to one diner, who said, as far as we could make out, that he was “buzzing.”’
Load More Replies...Good deed, but mere marketing after all. Probably even hypocritical. If the soy that is grown to feed the cattle that are used for the beed in all the burgers would not come from monocultures soaked in Roundup and the like, nature would rejoyce. Sorry for being a cynicist, but an extra hive will not do when 1000s of restaurants sell food based on non-sustainable farming.
Any thing that put attention on bees and the environment is good. Who cares if the company does it for markteting purposes. They can make honey-mustard dressing with the honey <3
That's great! Sure, it's partly a PR stunt, but these days, what isn't? And the benefit the bees get is real.
say what you want about McDonalds and their broken ice cream machine, they are the goat for this.
I'm an American - it annoys me to no end that they just dump pesticides in order to save one thing, while killing something we all need. What is wrong with this country? I am highly allergic to bees, but I gladly give them sugar water so they stick around my neighborhood. They are amazing creatures.
It is pure Marketing since these bee houses are too identical to McDonald's restaurant.
What a nice change, to see McDonalds doing something good. It would be lovely to see this in other countries too.
My boyfriend and I have three beehives on our terrace, in the middle of a residential area. Our bees never bother ANYBODY, and never venture into our house. We have had breakfast next to the hives with no bees even coming to check out what we were eating. Bees are not wasps, guys. They are truly not annoying or aggressive, and will only sting you if you are mistreating the hive. They are lovely, if unorthodox pets, and I encourage any of you who can, to consider getting a beekeeping license, supporting the industries which protect bees, reserving a portion of your garden for bee hives, or just planting flowers and fruit trees!
Jollibee should do the same! given the fact that, well uhm he's a bee
Curious that the 'customer interview' at Mickey-D's hive was with a male bee, given that drones' feeding is finished once the Queen has her airborne orgy ;)
It definitely makes it convenient for those bees that want Honey with their Chicken McNuggets!
Bandwagon-jumping. If they were serious, McDonald's would work to get bans of neonicotinoids in ALL countries in which they work. They would save millions more bees than this stunt will. They could run campaigns in the restaurants to educate consumers. They could donate to organizations working for a ban on pesticides. They could hand out seeds for bee garden plants. To have a real effect, they have to build thousands of these around the world. Then I'd take it seriously. For now, it's a stunt. Also, if they we're serious about the environment, they would offer a vegan burger. Some burgers chains here in Canada offer them and they're doing great. Beef cattle are HUGE contributors of carbon both by the land they live on, which is no longer is oxygen-producing carbon-soaking forest, and by the methane they produce.
Could it bee the chemtrails sprayed across our skies all over the globe on a daily basis? Their dumping chemicals on us while we have our heads down addicted to artificial intelligence on our phones and tablets at every chance we get. Look up a few times a week and ask yourself is this normal? Are these the skies, clouds and sun I remember or? I Every living creature is beeing effected by chemtrails. Blaming it on us for using to much of anything is in No comparison to what they dump on all of us. Take it or leave it but that's my wide shared prospective. Peace Love and Bee good to your neighbors all!
One may wonder about the chemicals _willfully_ consumed by those 'specially-enlightened beings' who declare' that some vapors in the skies outweigh the environmental effects of producing 400 million tonnes of plastics annually.
Load More Replies...I guess we're gonna have fat bees now too. Thanks Mickey D's! Probably hypertensive...diabetic...lolz
If you build it they will come! Get busy here & around the world.
Important thing to note, all of the bees you see out pollinating flowers and making honey are female. The male drones only exist to fertilize the queen, then they die because the act of mating literally rips their penis from their bodies.
I mention this mostly for the author of the article, they should change the pronoun in this line: ‘Bored Panda spoke to one diner, who said, as far as we could make out, that he was “buzzing.”’
Load More Replies...Good deed, but mere marketing after all. Probably even hypocritical. If the soy that is grown to feed the cattle that are used for the beed in all the burgers would not come from monocultures soaked in Roundup and the like, nature would rejoyce. Sorry for being a cynicist, but an extra hive will not do when 1000s of restaurants sell food based on non-sustainable farming.
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