Entrepreneur and activist Igor Casapu founded BeeRole to serve as a unique solution to an impending environmental crisis – global honey bee extinction.
Casapu found the inspiration for BeeRole in his lifelong passion for environmental activism. One of the causes dear to his heart is the alarming rate of decreasing bee populations in ecosystems worldwide. The destruction of our environment, and the extinction of the honey bees, will have dire consequences for societies all around the globe.
Casapu warns, “Living on a planet where everything is interconnected, it is easy to understand why losing our pollinators could lead to disastrous consequences.” Casapu points to the rapidly declining honey bee populations as a critical environmental disaster that grows worse with every day of inaction from corporations and consumers. “Business is no longer about finding ways to cut costs and profit off the destruction of the natural world,” he explains, “we have to take action now in order to save the one world we have; this is why I so firmly believe in what we are doing at BeeRole today.”
Honey bees are a critical pollinator species in the vast majority of ecosystems; they are responsible for pollinating 70 out of every 100 of the crop species that feed 90 % of the world. Ultimately, the honey bees are responsible for over 30 billion USD of crop profits annually.
However, crop profits will not be the only thing in danger if we fail to address the declining honey bee population. In addition to losing the crops that feed humans, we will also lose the vegetation that sustains animals, both domesticated and wild. Honey bee extinction would cause numerous ecosystem disruptions. Entire food chains will be affected, and whole ecosystems can collapse due to honey bee extinction.
A world without these critical pollinators would struggle to sustain the global human population of seven billion. We would see massive food shortages, a tremendous increase in the prices of produce, and a subsequent decline in human nutrition. We depend on honey bees to sustain the ecosystems that sustain us.
The solution for this ecological crisis lies in a pressing need to protect the surviving honey bees and create more hives. The best way to support this solution is to strengthen the industry that benefits the honey bee population, aka the honey industry! Beekeepers may just be our saving grace, but as with many small businesses, beekeepers often struggle to reach a broad audience of consumers.
This is where BeeRole comes in – This social media marketplace is a one-of-a-kind solution to a one-of-a-kind problem. Casapu combined his ideas of sustainability solutions and virtual social marketplaces to create his ingenious solution.
Through the BeeRole hive, beekeepers are able to not only connect with a vast client base, but they are also able to unite with fellow beekeepers! Casapu described the intentions of BeeRole, “For us it is important that the beekeepers are generally supported. We want to provide them with resources to expand their bee families and produce more honey. When the number of bees in any given area grows more and more plants will be pollinated leading to a healthier ecosystem overall.” For consumers and honey lovers, BeeRole provides the one-of-a-kind opportunity to buy products from a fair trade market and support small businesses while tasting honey from Zimbabwe to Nepal to Mexico.
BeeRole functions as a social media marketplace to help beekeepers connect with fellow beekeepers and global consumers. Through Casapu’s hive, the honey industry will grow, people will be joined together for an urgent cause, and honey bees will be saved!