Back in 2014, Morgan Freeman told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that he decided to become a beekeeper.
The actor, director, philanthropist, and iconic voice said his efforts were aimed at helping to replenish the bee population and secure the Earth’s production of food.
According to organizations like Greenpeace, beekeepers have noticed that their honeybee populations have been on the decline since the 1990s.
Since bees are pollinators, we depend on them for one-third of the world’s grown food.
If the bees go, then so does our food, according to Greenpeace.
Organizations like the American Council on Science and Health, however, beg to differ.
They say that the “bee apocalypse was never real.”
They state that populations aren’t in danger or that the situation is overexaggerated. Though the EPA ruled that Colony Collapse Disorder was the cause for a decline in bees over the last five years, President Trump eliminated a ban on bee-killing pesticides. The ban prevented the use of neonicotinoid pesticides which are linked to declining bee populations along with insect resistant GMO crops.
Freeman, however, is of the mind that bees need our help.
So, he that’s why he started beekeeping back in 2014.
“There is a concerted effort for bringing bees back onto the planet,” he told Fallon.
“We do not realize that they are the foundation, I think, of the growth of the planet, the vegetation.”
And within two weeks of his beekeeping journey, Freeman was confident enough to approach the bees without protection.
“What I’ve discovered is I don’t have to put on a bee suit or anything to feed them,” he told Fallon explaining that he feeds them two parts sugar to one part water.
“I’ve never been stung. I’m never gonna get stung. You have to resonate [with the bees].”
But now he’s taken his beekeeping to the next level.
Freeman transformed his 124-acre Mississippi ranch into a giant bee sanctuary.
So if you’re allergic, you’ll want to avoid the Freeman household.
According to Forbes, he has a total of 26 beehives on his ranch which he imported from Arkansas.
He has also brought in bee-friendly plants like magnolia trees, lavender, and clover.
Unlike most beekeepers, Freeman doesn’t plan on harvesting the honey from his bees. He doesn’t want to disrupt his beehives in any way. He just wants to feed them so they can keep doing what they do, which is pollinate.
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