COVID-19

Unavoidably, a post on COVID-19, as unavoidable a virus, a big shock to our systems has been.

Or as unavoidable loss of biodiversity is, as climate change is… or as unavoidable antibiotic resistant bacteria will be… or as unavoidable many (self-inflicted) challenges humans will face, will be… …IF, humans go back to “normality”. Or what recent generations in just the past decades have considered to be “normal”. Now, we have a CHANCE TO CHANGE, to follow a more sustainable path going forward. Just some different, thought-provoking links (just to show something different than the mainstream media):

(1) The short film “THE GREAT PAUSE” reviews the corona-situation from a left-ish-Western perspective. “The old normal was abnormal.” “There is no usual anymore.” “This is a cultural paradigm shift.”

https://vimeo.com/411278238

(2) In this second movie, we see the world from the perspective of the Corona-virus thanking humans for being a good host and asking humans: “Am I enough?” “What future do you choose?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cEXfJc6_d0

Appreciate nature more

WEF: Appreciate nature more

Next to personal considerations and potentially making change happen bottom-up, also institutions should reorientate and work on green top-down solutions. These articles of the World Economic Forum (WEF) are worth the read, in my opinion:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/humanitys-assault-on-the-natural-world-has-paved-the-way-for-covid-19

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/scientists-pandemics-coronavirus-nature-covid19-health

A few WEF-quotes from these articles:

“COVID-19 demonstrates that it is time for all in the financial sector to think “beyond carbon”, and put nature-related impacts and dependencies firmly onto their risk map.”

“Humans may not have created the coronavirus, but we have cultured the unnatural conditions needed for nature to toss a $10 trillion-dollar time bomb into our economy.”

“To prevent a recurrence of this crisis, we need to look less into human health and more into the collective blindness among regulators and within the financial sector when it comes to recognising the huge dependencies the global economy has on biodiversity, and the devastating impacts on us all when our effect on these dependencies becomes increasingly unsustainable.”

Care, Dare & Share.

SDG reporting – 1st steps

SDG Reporting

Sustainable Develepment Goals (SDGs) Reporting

 

Sustainability reporting reveals which companies are actually making an impact and which ones are merely paying lip service: “Reporting against the SDGs presents a valuable opportunity for businesses to hone their strategic direction as sustainable development challenges increasingly take center stage in the international community.” Please find a checklist to align reporting with the SDGs here:

https://lnkd.in/eWKFqiX

** 2018 **

My very best wishes to all and the world!

World

May we Care, Dare & Share

 

Important is to put things into perspective. To acknowledge that there are by default many different perspectives.

Interesting is the view on the world of astronauts. The quote below is  harsh but to the point…

Astronaute's view

Astronaute’s view

Macroeconomics for a Sustainable Planet

Trailer for the online course “Macroeconomics for a Sustainable Planet”:

This online course is pretty amazing. It’s about the intersection of sustainable development and economics, specifically macroeconomics. It covers how factors like unemployment, inflation, protectionism, fiscal deficit and more can drastically alter our sustainable future. The course is being taught by Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs and former Minister of Finance of Chile Dr. Felipe Larraín. More information: http://bit.ly/macrocourse.

Honey Harvest

A lot of bees, a lot of work, a lot of challenges, a lot of fun, a lot to learn, a lot of honey. WOW. It is like a wonder. It is amazing. What these little workers achieved! I feel honoured to be part of their team. They have so much to give.

 

They give so much in terms of life lessons. How they cooperate, communicate, coordinate, build, fly, find their ways, eat, save, clean, regulate temparature, organise their society (top-down and bottom-up).

 

And now they “give” all this honey as well (well, I basically “stole” it). I did leave quite some honey in the bee hyves as they need (in my opinion) their own, but nevertheless they provided about 70 kilograms. I put it in jars of 250, 500 and 1000 grams and I get to use the new labels. Now it not only TASTES GREAT, but looks okay too.

A true gift of nature. Gotta love it.

In case anyone is interested or has any questions, please send me a message. The prices are in line with the Tiroler Bienenladen (Tyrolean Bee Shop): http://www.tirolerbienenladen.at/

Mobile phone for the gorilla

In addition to all the honey bees and my Alpine life style, I’m professionally into “impact, finance, sustainability” themes.

During the Summerschool “Climate Change” we discussed the sustainable use of resources with the case study: “a mobile phone for the gorilla”.

Interesting to discuss how huge global issues can be caused ( 🙁 ) and solved ( 🙂 ) by (the sum of) individual actions. Everybody can make a difference!

More information in German via: https://naturschutzbotschafter.fzs.org/de/handy-aktion/

Sweet honey bee logo

In the anticipation of some honey, I asked Ladiebirdy Graphic Design in London* to make a logo for the pots:

Engls Honig

“Angels Honey”

“Engls Honig” means “Angels Honey”. For sure it will have a heavenly taste! Not really made by angels, but equally fine by hardworking Carnica honey bees in Tyrol. Nickname “Arlberger Hochgebirgssportbienen”. And Engl refers actually to the previous beekeeper in the bee house I use. His name was Engelbert.

Next to the logo, we developed a bee dance picture. The bee dance is an intruiging way how bees communicate and orientate! The “Arlberger Hochgebirgssportbienen” know their ways around! For example into the Malfon Valley with great “Alpenrosen”.

Bee dance

Bee dance

 

 

 

 

*”With a joint love of animals and fun designs, Maria Cox runs the quirky Ladiebirdy company from her studio in West London. She sells her products from her online store, wholesale stockists and at handmade fairs, as well as a full time stall at Londons’ Spitalfields Market. If you’re interested in commissioning any work or have any wholesale enquiries, please get in touch now at ladiebirdy@hotmail.co.uk.”

 

Dress for Success (i)

Exactly what the bees and I needed for our fruitful cooperation! A decent English suit. Dress for Success! With BJ Sherriff. Just love the turquoise.

 

BJ Sherriff has been a leading bee keeping clothing and accessories company since 1968. A true, dedicated, pioneering family business. A great example of “caring, daring and sharing”. As BJ Sherriff states:

All our beekeeper clothing is responsibly designed, manufactured solely by family owned B J Sherriff in England using ethically sourced materials and components.

The proof of the honey is in the eating… Soon you will see the turquoise suit in action!

Interested? Check BJ Sherriffs website: https://www.bjsherriff.co.uk/

Or contact them via: +44 (0)1872 863304 or orders@bjsherriff.com

Honeycomb perfection

Honeycomb perfection

Honeycomb perfection

Bee keeping means entering a whole new world! It is so fascinating! This is a freshly built honeycomb of my “Engl-poulation” – the wax pattern is just perfect. The regular hexagon. The mathematical precision is amazing. It is the most efficient way of building, but it also displays a stunning geometric beauty. The cooperation of these small creatures is unbelievable too. Such a great organisation and society they live in.

 

“Young worker bees excrete slivers of warm wax, each about the size of a pinhead. Other workers take the freshly produced slivers and carefully position them to form vertical, six-sided, cylindrical chambers (or cells). Each wax partition is less than 0.1mm thick, accurate to a tolerance of 0.002mm. Each of the six walls is exactly the same width, and the walls meet at an angle of precisely 120 degrees, producing one of the “perfect figures” of geometry, a regular hexagon.”

 

A true wonder of nature. And the sweetest is yet to come into these perfect regular hexagons… honey!

 

 

Summer-(School!)-Time!

k.i.d.Z.21

Also this summer 2017 I will teach during several Summerschools “Climate Change” in Obergurgl, Tyrol, Austria.

These summer schools are part of the unique “k.i.d.Z.21” project of the University Innsbruck. More information (in German) via:

http://kidz.ccca.ac.at/

.

In summary, the key aspects of the “Climate Change” Summerschool concept are:

– Exchange between Science and Schools

– Interdisciplinary approach/ different perspectives

– Constructivist learning method/ conceptual change theory

– Personal experience

Spending a week in the mountains brings new insights. Standing on a stunning, but melting glacier. Climate change is unfortunately visible.

Should you be interested, feel free to contact me. Some first impressions below and updates follow.

Newbie

As a newbie with my new bees, there is a lot to learn. The bees are great teachers – they give immediate feedback! If you don’t listen well, you feel it straight away! The first stings are a fact… (and a new working suit is on its way, just to be sure…)

It is also great to see the world with different eyes.

Whereas the 21st of June usually meant early summer to me personally, it means to the bees heading towards year end.

The days are getting shorter; the populations slowly start to prepare for winter.

Late July-early August, I will harvest the honey from my bee hyves. From then onwards, a new cycle will start. I will keep you posted!

Arrival of the bees

It is June 2017 and I am back home am Arlberg. After the great bee keeping course in Imst last year, it is now time to welcome thousands of new friends in Pettneu am Arlberg. They come from Pitztal and their new houses have been carefully prepared:

A new, amazing, fascinating world opens up! After mega adventures with mountain gorillas in Virunga, the tiny honey bees in Tyrol are keeping me busy these days.

More updates follow.