i love honey.

so much so that i was a bee for halloween last year

(halloween on march 31, of course).

it just so happens that there are currently 60,000 bees

on the roof of the Vienna Opera house

(seen below).

2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity.

Biodiversity = the idea that each species supports many other species.

Austrians (and Germans) are all over this idea.

Does that surprise anyone?

No.

Austria's environment ministry has cosponsored this project, Vielfaltleben,

by installing behives on the Opera house roof!

They've already started making honey!

Vienna isn't actually the first city to do this.

Urban apiculture (keeping bees in cities) is popular in Europe.

Not only does it help produce honey but it keeps plants pollinated,

and supports green areas like parks and gardens.

Bees pollinate 80% of flowering plants,

and many key horticultural crops

(like nuts and fruit....you know, 1/2 of my diet)

could not exist without bees.

The same applies for beans (hey, another large portion of my diet).

(Come to find out, another large portion of my diet is honey).

(I might die without bees).
(Or at least have to re-train my taste buds).

Honeybees have experienced a CCD (colony-collapse disorder) in recent years

on account of parasites, infections, pesticides,
new pestresistent crop varieties

and the impact of human activities on the environment.

I like this Vielfaltleben project.

And if you want to watch the bees live on webcam,

you can.

Here.