Despite the windy morning toppling over signs and causing dust to swirl around campus pathways, CSUN’s Associated Students (AS) Productions held their first ever “Save the Bees” event on Nov. 6 in the Bayramian Lawn, near the campus library.
Evan Leal, the event producer for AS Productions, was given full creative control over the event, aiming to include some of the group’s environmental goals to promote sustainability through awareness of local pollinators, flowers and wildlife.
Along with tote bags giveaways and a free Yerba Maté stand, Leal invited a local beekeeper to offer honey tasting and display a beehive, helping to introduce students to the CSUN Urban Forest Project. Attendees could pledge to receive a plant at home and learn about sustainable organizations on campus such as The Institute and the Environmental Club.
According to Leal, these resources were designed to educate students on various aspects of sustainability beyond bees and pollinators and bees.
“We share this campus with local flowers, local wildlife, insects, bees, whatever, you name it,” Leal said. “It’s not hard to overlook that, and I just feel like this is a great opportunity to reconnect with that aspect, of that, nature is all around us, and we should want to protect it, and we should look out for the little guys like the bees.”
AS Productions schedule the event during passing periods and the most popular spots on campus, deciding the lawn would be the best space for bringing in students.
“There’s a lot of ways students can help, that’s a reason why we bring out so many organizations,” Leal said. “That’s why we bring out the institute, that’s why we bring out the environmental club, that’s why we bring out outdoor adventures, just so students can learn about the different resources that are on campus and these are organizations that they can get involved with.”
Keith Roberts, a beekeeper and co-owner of The Valley Hive in Chatsworth, provided another way for students to learn about sustainability. Alongside beekeepers Steve Savage and Maddy Julien from The Valley Hive and the Los Angeles Beekeeper Association, Roberts set up a booth offering free honey samples and honey products for sale.
Though this was CSUN’s first “Save the Bees” event, Roberts has previously been invited to CSUN for a lecture with the robotics club on the importance of sustaining honeybees and the deep-rooted history of beekeeping in Los Angeles.
“We’re here to share our love and adoration for the honeybee and everything that she provides in terms of pollination and all the gifts from the hive that she’s responsible for,” he said. “And being able to encourage people to our observation hive that we have here and samples of the hive […] to show the connection that we still have toward this ancient art and show it’s still very much important today in terms to our way of life.”
Roberts emphasized the importance of involving young people in beekeeping research, noting that many beekeepers are older. He cited the “four Ps”—pests, pathogens, pesticides, and poor nutrition—as challenges that younger generations can help address.
Nursery Manager for Tiüvac’a’ai Tribal Conservation Corps, Karla Gonzalez Reyes, promoted their free tree program to provide people with native trees and plant them in their homes, targeting areas in need of shade to mitigate heat island effects. The program, which also prioritizes low income communities, highlights the need for planting native species that are already well adapted to the environment.
“We need to be present, and we need to continue to promote that engagement within our community when we look at native species,” Reyes said. “When we’re promoting native plants, we’re also promoting native habitats for bees.”
Despite the program being small, Reyes shared how important any steps of action are, no matter how small.
“At least for me, it’s all of the actions we are taking now, they build it, they have a ripple effect,” she said. “So even though they might seem like small actions, they carry on onto the future.”
Alona Merezhko, an ecology student, attended after seeing advertisements on campus, having an interest in bees and nature.
“I think this is really cool,” Merezhko said. “Sustainability is very important, especially now, so it’s really heartwarming to see so many people care about it here.”
Students can find more information on any upcoming or past AS Productions events on their official CSUN page or their Instagram. Regular events included the Weekly Farmers Market every Tuesday at Matador Square and “Big Lecture,” a Q&A with Josh Peck in the Plaza del Sol Performance Hall on Nov. 14.
