September 23, 2015. | Issue 5, Volume 63 [ thebluebanner.net
NEWS
UNCA community wary of declining honeybee populations
LIAM BAGLIVO
Contributor
The UNC Asheville community joins
the fight to help local pollinators by
establishing pollinator meadows on
campus. This is possible with funding
provided by Burt’s Bees Greater Good
Foundation, the Blue Ridge National
Heritage Area Partnership and Bee City
USA, according to university officials.
“There are a lot of parasites and patho
gens that affect bees and being affected
by one makes you more vulnerable to
others,” said Rebecca Hale, assistant
professor of biology at UNCA and
Weaverville resident.
According to the USD A, the total
number of managed honeybee colonies
dropped by half since the 1940s with
numbers now below 2.5 million.
The pollinators’ populations are un
der duress from a phenomenon known
as colony collapse disorder, in addition
to environmental stresses such as mites,
pathogens, fungi, neonicotinoid pesti
cides and more, according to the USD A.
Colony collapse disorder occurs when
most worker bees in a colony disappear
and leave behind a queen, plenty of food
and a few nurse bees, according to the
Environmental Protection Agency.
David Clarke, professor of biology at
UNCA and Asheville resident, said there
is no one specific cause for the declining
honeybee population, but multiple caus
es.
“Certainly any of those things, the par
asites and neonicotinoids,” Clarke said,
“would need addressing if you want to
save the honeybees.”
Bee pollination is responsible for
more than $15 billion in crops each year,
according to the USDA.
“Honeybees are the biggest pollina
tor of crops that need to be pollinated,”
said Hale, a practicing beekeeper since
2008. “Anything that produces a nice,
yummy fmit needs to be pollinated, and
the way we do our agriculture nationally
doesn’t allow natural pollinators to be as
abundant around those crop fields. We
rely on honeybees to do a lot of that.”
Bees pollinate various crops, some
of which include apples, avocados.
peaches, broccoli, onions, pumpkin and
more, according to the National Re
sources Defense Council.
Many people are unaware of the im
portance of honeybees and the dangers
they face. Kelly Norris, a sophomore
environmental studies student at UNCA,
said the decline of honeybee populations
is alarming.
“I think the honeybees are ultimate
ly important in a lot of aspects of life,”
Norris said. “Pollinators are critically
important to our well-being. They’re a
part of our environment just as much as
Read more- on page 9
Photos by Kelly Norris - Contributor
Student inventors work
to prevent sexual assault
PHILLIP WYATT
A&F Staff Writer
pwyatt@unca.edu
Two students’ idea to create
a technology capable of pre
venting sexual assault is finally
coming to fruition.
Madison Eddings, cellular
and molecular biology student,
and Ben Eisdorfer, manage
ment student, invented a wear
able bracelet called Pro(tech)t.
Using cellular-based data, the
bracelet alerts campus police,
at the touch of a button, in the
event someone feels endan
gered.
“We’ve both always had a
passion about rape culture and
sexual assault in general, as
well as the issues it causes,”
Eddings said. “Sexual assault
is such a big issue and it has so
many pieces to it. It really does
come down to the need for a
cultural change for it to be last
ing. It also needs an immediate
fix and solution..”
The UNC Asheville students
said they thought of the idea in
a social entrepreneurship class.
“We were thinking, ‘What
does a potential victim need in
that moment when things be
come not okay? What would be
the easiest way for someone to
alert someone else?”’ Eddings
said.
After winning UNC’s 2015
Social Entrepreneurship Con
ference in February, the duo
raised around $20,000 to man
ufacture their product, Eddings
said. This amount includes
anonymous donations, personal
funds and the $3,000 confer
ence prize.
Eisdorfer said a provision
al patent was issued for the
product, the name is now
trademarked and the students
obtained Limited Liability
Company authorization.
The duo said they chose their
favorite company, Eventys, to
aid with developing and manu
facturing Pro(tech)t.
The company, based in Char
lotte, is a full-service product
development firm that takes
pride in their quality products,
according to the Eventys web
site. With over a decade of ex
perience in its industry, Eventys
has worked with companies like
Colgate, Clorox, Rubbermaid,
Mattel and Coca-Cola.
“It’s so frustrating sometimes
because it does feel like a slow
Photo contributed by Madison Eddings
Ben Eisdorfer and Madison Eddings pose with Philip Gary.