To meet the Earth Day with primers, flowers and bees

Young Researchers in Serbia (YRS) marked the Earth Day by organizing an ecological workshop called “Planet and me, where are the bees?” in cooperation with the elementary school “Kralj Aleksandar I“.

Pupils of the fourth grade had talks with beekeeper on the importance of bees and its current situation in Serbia. Together with YRS activists – Jovana Pejinović and Tanja Vučetić and Project manager Dušica Trnavac Bogdanović, pupils were making hotels (houses) for the bees that later were settled in the schoolyard and planted a lot of different bee plants. This activity was followed by pupil’s drawings in the schoolyard with motivational messages regarding environmental protection.

“We decided to dedicate this year’s celebration of Earth Day to the significance of bees and the problem that our planet faces – the disappearance of bees. We will begin with the fourth-grade pupils to provide “first aid” to Belgrade urban bees: hotels designed exclusively for them so that they can fly from one flower to another in order to collect pollen and survive in urban conditions. The extinction of the bees is both global and local problem because they play an important role in the eco-system, and especially in the pollination of plants. “- said Tijana Ljubenović, coordinator of the activist group YRS.

The Earth Day (April 22) was initiated in 1970 when more than 20,000,000 Americans protested about environmental pollution and pouring of several thousand tons of oil into the sea where all the living world died. It is celebrated around the world since 1992 when a long-term program for the promotion of sustainable development was adopted at the UN Environment Conference in Rio de Janeiro. An interesting fact is that the Earth Day has its flag and anthem based on the melody of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”.