ICYMI, we recently rolled out a new set of sustainability initiatives as part of our newest project, The Good Stuff: making good stuff happen for the people in our lives, and the planet we live on. Our latest venture within this project involved three things: bees + free native plants + YOU. Here’s what went down (and why).
Why Give Away Free Native Plants?
Sometime last year, we sat down with a small group of our TAXIBOXERS and asked what we could be doing better as a business, sustainability wise. A few interesting conversations and many brainstorms later, we’d come up with a lot of new ideas to add to our sustainability program… including TAXIBEES.
Bees are dying worldwide due to climate change, and since they sport our TAXIBOX colours of black and yellow day in, day out, we figured it was about time we returned the favour to help save our local bees.
We’re not quite ready to a whole hive up and running at TAXIBOX HQ, so instead, we set up a free native plant giveaway out of two of our Melbourne facilities to support our community, encouraging anyone interested to do more bee-friendly gardening at home.
Saving the Bees with Bee-Friendly Gardening
@tarabellerose How to save the bees! ?? #bees #climatechange ♬ original sound – Tara Bellerose
Wondering what planting a few natives at home does for bees? More than you’d think! Planting bee-friendly natives in your garden at home does things like:
- Encourages healthier biodiversity
- Creates more food for bees to keep their energy up
- Provides more shelter for bees that need it
- Helps more good stuff grow thanks to pollination
The free native plants we gave away in Melbourne we’re all indigenous varieties, suitable for our local (aka cold) climate here in Victoria, and selected with the above benefits in mind.
That Adds Up, But Why Save the Bees?
Aside from sporting our TAXIBOX colours day in, day out, bees are crucial to environment for a lot of reasons that makes them worth saving, like…
Climate Change Reduces the Abundance and Diversity of Wild Bees
by u/burtzev in ecology
- Pollination, which is critical for our food systems
- Biodiversity, which we need to continue growing lush landscapes
- Native honey, while not all Australian native bees produce honey, a small few varieties do (and the honey itself is tangy + delicious)
250+ Free Native Plants Later…
Two giveaway events of free native plants later, we managed to find new homes for over 250 seedling varieties. Thanks to all Melbourners that showed up to support – we hope your bee-friendly gardens are thriving at home.
If you’re not from Melbourne, don’t worry – we have more plans for events like this in other cities we service in the future, so watch this space. If you have any other ideas or suggestions for more good we can do for TAXIBEES, our inbox is open at [email protected]!
