On Monday, March 9, MinnPost’s Earth Journal Circle will present its third annual event focusing on substantive discussion of critical issues in the environment.
This year’s topic is “Pollinators in Peril: Helping Our Bees Back Onto Their Own Six Feet.” The speaker is Marla Spivak, director of the University of Minnesota’s Bee Lab and an internationally recognized authority on the problems afflicting both commercial managed honeybees and their wild cousins. Earth Journal writer Ron Meador will moderate the Q&A session.
Spivak will discuss new research into strategies for saving these critical pollinators. Some of the leading solutions center on improving or rebuilding habitat with flowering plants to provide natural forage, on scales ranging from do-it-yourself backyard plantings to wholesale conversion of highway and railroad corridors. Spivak’s interest in bees began when she worked for a commercial beekeeper in the 1970s; today she is Distinguished McKnight Professor in Entomology at the university and a MacArthur Fellow.
The program will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at Hell’s Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis. Registration fee for the program — which includes dinner — is $25 for current MinnPost members and $35 for non-members.
Dinner includes a choice of five Hell’s Kitchen entrées, plus soft drinks, tax and gratuity. Orders will be taken at 6:00 and dinner will be served at tables during the program. The program begins at 6:15.
Entrée choices are baked penne pasta with grilled vegetables; BBQ pulled pork sandwich with Tater Tots; walleye fish & chips; Greek salad with chicken; or bison burger with Tater Tots.
Registration deadline is March 2. Tickets are available here
Earth Journal Circle was created in 2012 to support twice-weekly environmental coverage on MinnPost. Circle members listed here pledged between $1000 and $5000 a year for three years to support Ron Meador’s Earth Journal. Earth Journal was MinnPost’s first beat to be funded by a group of major donors interested in the topic. More than 100 smaller donors have also supported this beat.
