Green Options

Honey bees are disappearing. The story has been in the news on and off since 2006, but for one reason or another, most people have paid little attention. And the situation is significantly dire.

Last year, Häagen-Dazs announced it would invest a quarter of a million dollars into research on “Colony Collapse Disorder” — the mysterious ongoing disappearance of millions of honeybees in North America and Europe.  Is this mere corporate greenwashing, or does the premium ice cream icon deserve our affection (and our business)?

Häagen-Dazs has a vested interest in preserving and rescuing honeybees, since nearly 40% of their flavours rely on fruits and nuts pollinated by bees.  But we shouldn’t dismiss this as mere self-serving business interests.  If anything, we should wonder why this sort of investment is not much more common.

Häagen-Dazs has given $250,000 to researchers studying colony collapse disorder, the mysterious condition causing large numbers of bees to simply disappear. The grant isn’t sheer altruism, though: Häagen-Dazs says 40 percent of its flavors depend on the bee’s specialty, pollination.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Abrahami.