Welcome spring and those longer days and sunny afternoons. Welcome rains and pollen too. And as the flowers and trees rev up their blooming, welcome bees.

Bees have much work to do in the spring, tasked with pollinating flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables. The hours they put in pay dividends to everyone, ensuring habitats for creatures who rely on plant homes and keeping a full one-third of the food we eat pollinated.

According to Greenpeace, “70 out of the top 100 human food crops — which supply about 90 percent of the world’s nutrition — are pollinated by bees.”

And don’t even get us started singing the praises of honey. (Or do. We can go on and on, starting with these recipes for infused honey.)

Of course, honey bees are not the only bee pollinators in question. According to the Xerces Society’s pollinator conservation program, the most endangered bees are the rusty patched bumble bee and other lesser-known wild bee species.

The bottom line? What’s good for the bees is good for the planet and all of its creatures, including you and me. And we have the means to help a bee out!

Your Morning Mug Can Help a Bee Out

According to the journal Nature, While the coffee plant is known to be self-pollinating, bees can augment the process. According to research, “honeybees can boost [coffee] crop yields by over 50%. These findings, together with world coffee-harvest statistics and results from field studies of organically shade-grown coffee, indicate that coffee plants would benefit from being grown in habitats that are suitable for sustaining valuable pollinators.”

You may have heard that the population of pollinators, including honey bees, has declined in the past decade. While sources give different estimates for the extent of the problem, they all tell a similar story about bee decline, especially in the United States, due to climate change, pesticides, and habitat loss. So, if coffee farms use pesticides or other practices that repel bees, then the farm actually contributes to bee decline even though the farm would benefit from the bees—just like the rest of the planet.

But what does this have to do with your morning coffee or tea? Plenty, actually. Because the beverage you drink and the way you make it can contribute to the solution. Specifically:

• Choose organic coffee and cotton. You can help reduce pesticides by using organic coffee, tea, and filters. When you buy organic, you not only encourage coffee growers to go organic—you also ensure that any of your used grounds that end up in landfills or compost is itself organic, a double help for the bees.

• Choose reusable filters and gear. You can help prevent habitat destruction by choosing reusable, sustainable brewing supplies. Unrecycled paper means tree loss, which means homeless bees.

What’s Good for the Trees is Good for the Bees

Sure, bees are into flowers. But they love trees too. They pollinate flowering trees and build their hives in tree branches. It’s a win-win. So, the less paper we consume, the better for trees and bees (and fruits, nuts, vegetables, and you).

So, as bee season begins in your area, you’ve got a thousand more reasons to save the trees 🌳 + feed the bees. 🐝