Louisa Pearson: ‘I know vegans shun honey, but is slathering yourself with it really an environmental no-no?’

MY SHOWER gel has four types of honey in it: clover, orange blossom, manuka and eucalyptus. You may consider this somewhat excessive but it smells very nice and leaves my skin soft as a honey bee’s bottom.

I’ve been revelling in its naturalness but recently the doubts started gathering like clouds on the horizon. Honey bees are struggling – thanks to habitat-loss, viruses spread by the varroa mite and pesticides (pesticides should have ‘allegedly’ in front of them). Until today, I’ve never stopped to ask whether my honey-consumption is part of the solution or part of the problem. I know vegans shun honey, but is slathering yourself with it really an environmental no-no?

A complete void of knowledge about beekeeping lies at the heart of this question. As an adult, I can appreciate the gentle hum of bees in the garden but a lingering childhood fear of being stung means I’ve never considered purchasing a few hives or donning a beekeeper’s suit. First stop, the British Beekeeper’s Association (www.bbka.org.uk). The front page of the website declares, “One in three mouthfuls of the food we eat is dependent on pollination at a time when a crisis is threatening the world’s honey bees.”

Now I’m feeling extra-guilty, having been thinking of bees as an attractive element in a wildlife garden rather than essential players in feeding the world.

The BBKA promotes the importance of bees in the environment and provides support for beekeepers. This is making me think eating honey can’t be bad or these pro-bee people wouldn’t be involved in it. Thankfully, the website clearly answers the question of why bees make honey. The reason (I’m sure most of you already know this, but humour me) is that honey bees overwinter as a colony and stay active. To keep them going, they have to store food (honey) from the summer before. A hive only needs 20lb-30lb of honey to survive the winter, but bees are capable of storing much more. The beekeeper ensures they do just that by adding more upper boxes to the hive (I’m simplifying the process – apologies to beekeepers).

Do the bees miss the honey? Apparently not. The BBKA says, “A strong colony can produce two to three times more honey than they need. If necessary the beekeeper can feed sugar syrup in the autumn to supplement for the loss of honey.” Let’s breathe a collective sigh of relief and take a moment to pause and enjoy a globule of bee trivia: bees fly about 55,000 miles to make just one pound of honey, the equivalent of one and a half times around the world. According to Defra, there are an estimated 40,000 beekeepers in the UK – if you want to join them, or locate a local beekeeper to buy honey from, check out the Scottish Beekeepers Association (www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk).

Having placated myself about the ethics of using honey (though I fear only the clover honey in my shower gel would have been locally sourced), I started wondering if there is anything I ought to be doing to help bees. The Scottish Government actually published a bee health strategy in 2010 – read all about it and other bee-related matters via the National Bee Unit website (www.nationalbeeunit.com).

Short of finding a solution to the varroa mite problem or becoming a beekeeper, the next best way to support them is by planting bee-friendly plants (if you have a garden), buy local honey or maybe sign the Friends of the Earth Bee Cause petition (www.foe.co.uk), which aims to get the British government to sign up to a national bee action plan. Meanwhile, spread honey on your toast or wherever else seems appropriate. n