beehivedesigncollective

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Seeking Fellow Pollinators to Join our Distribution Team!

We currently have openings for new worker bees to join our hive! We are looking for fellow pollinators who love printing and the post office as much as we do. Our current distribution hub is based out of our collectively run house and studio space in Machias, Maine.

We're looking for one person who can start by mid-to-late June, and one or two more who can start by late July/early August, ideally for 6 month or 1 year positions. Exact dates are flexible. You’ll find more information, and a simple form to apply, here: 

                         Distribution Coordinators Application

We'll be filling these positions just as soon as we find people that are a good fit... So please send a hello our way soon if you're interested, and definitely by JUNE 1st.

The world of Beehive distro includes…

POLLEN-PACKING: You will be filling webstore orders and responding to requests for solidarity donations of our posters and patches; packing up bulk orders to send to bees and fellow pollinators near and far; and preparing distro for big events. You will be in frequent communication with our incredible network of pollinators who live and tour all over the map, and be on the receiving end of many love notes from fans, friends, and allies.

PRINTING LIASION: Alongside managing this outgoing pollen, there is digital work such as keeping graphics files well-organized, and coordinating getting materials printed for Bees and others, which means interacting with our fabric and paper printshops, which are both super awesome!

Please pass the word on to other folks you think might be interested! Thank you! love and solidarity, the Bees

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Friends!-- Angry about the poisoning of FLINT's water?!

THE BEES ARE READY TO BLAST 6,000 OF THESE POSTERS THROUGHOUT MICHIGAN ... we just need your help sharing and tweeting this chirp far and wide!!   http://bit.ly/1Soz5vd

Please give this a big ol' push to get started! THANK YOU!! <3 <3 <3

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We’re getting sooooo excited for the 10th Annual Blackfly Ball, coming up next Saturday August 15th!

Event details: facebook.com/events/126113617723191/ Hand-printed letterpress posters available here: weestore.myshopify.com/products/2015-blackfly-ball-letterpress-poster-small

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Announcing… Pollinating Ríos Vivos: Salish Coast & Florida Peninsula Tour!

The Beehive Design Collective's Polinizaciones (Pollinations) and Ríos Vivos (Living Rivers)-Colombia Announce: 

"Pollinating Ríos Vivos" -- Salish Coast & Florida Peninsula Tour!! 

Now booking for Oct, Nov, and Dec 2015

(en español también aquí)

On tour with giant, portable murals, Beehive graphics aim to draw-out the connections between colonial history and present day struggles against corporate globalization, violence, and racism. The all-volunteer Beehive creates anti-copyright graphics as tools for popular analysis, education, and organizing. Our presentations and workshops offer an accessible format for unpacking the ways in which resource extraction, militarization, and industrial development in the Western Hemisphere are all interconnected in the same 'big picture.'

This fall a visiting Bee from the Polinizaciones project, who is also a member of the Ríos Vivos Movement in Colombia, is heading out on tour to the Salish Coast (northwest coast of US/southwest coast of Canada) and then onto the Florida pensinsula (southeast US). This collaborative tour will share stories from Ríos Vivos Colombia, a social movement of dam impacted communities that struggle for the defense of their territories and rivers, and for an energy model by and for the people, and also the work of Polinizaciones, a grassroots process that collaborates with communities impacted by resource extraction in the use of arts, culture, and communications as strategies for land defense in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

Using Beehive graphics and other culture and communications work, Polinizaciones creates another way to learn, create, and understand our history in the context of globalization and free trade, militarization, the war on drugs, and the infrastructure and extraction projects integral to IIRSA-Project Mesoamérica. The bilingual Polinizaciones sharing session will highlight the Beehive's giant banners, accompanied by photographs, short films, personal experiences, and stories about the communities in resistance we have been weaving relationships of mutual aid with over the last eight years.

Throughout Abya Yala (South America), Beehive graphics are being used by youth and community educators within Native, Afro descendent, rural, and urban poor communities as a medium for dialogue and raising consciousness around the current threats against these communities. The Ríos Vivos Movement in Colombia is just one space that has appropriated Beehive collective graphics as part of their movement.

Kicking off in early October 2015, the tour will cover the Coast Salish territories today known as British Columbia (Canada) and Washington, Oregon and possibly California (USA), making stops at community spaces, universities, high schools, cultural centers, and other spaces interested in hosting a Polinizaciones Sharing Session. In December we will be in Florida and available to visit the same types of spaces.

The Pollinating Ríos Vivos Tour is especially committed to sharing these Southern Winds of Resistance with native, immigrant, and communities of color and is excited at the opportunity to be able to do presentations in Español.

BOOK THE BEES!

http://beehivecollective.org/tours-booking/bring-the-bees/

Please email both: polinizaciones@gmail.com & pollinators@beehivecollective.org

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Summer is upon us! Support the Beehive’s Local Work in Maine... Pitch in to help us build a Print Shop and more!

Want to support the Beehive’s volunteer-driven efforts here on the coast of Down East Maine? Help us spread the word about our Summer 2015 Local Work fundraising campaign! We are partnering with a unique crowdfunding platform this summer to boost our local community projects.

Beehive Design Collective, Summer 2015, Machias, Maine local work on hatchfund.org

For a few years now we’ve been envisioning a campus of community arts and cultural spaces where the Hive is based in eastern Maine. Last summer was our first big push towards that vision (read more about it in this blog post from last year!).

This summer we are focusing on the community print shop, building out the space around the beautiful Vandercook SP20 letterpress that we purchased last year. The print shop is one room in a larger arts space that will take up the whole 3rd floor of the old 5 & 10 building in our downtown. Another focus this summer is giving the Machias Valley Grange Hall some extra love with some needed building repairs - we are celebrating its 10th year of being restored and reopened as a space for free events in the community. We are also launching a Victory Garden Club and encouraging a network of community garden plots around town, connected to the original mission of the Grange as a hub for local farmers and food security.

Hatchfund is a non-profit that works specifically with artists and arts communities, so your donations are tax-deductible. The Maine Arts Commission Match Fund is also supporting our fundraising efforts through Hatchfund. We hope you can make a donation (any amount helps!) and share this link to help us spread the word.

In-kind donations of tools, building materials, etc, and volunteer power make our work possible, so if you are nearby or want to come visit to lend a hand in person, please be in touch. We’d love to hear from you!

Learn more, and see an extended video, on our Local Work page.

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New video: a behind-the-scenes peek at our local work in Downeast Maine!

http://beehivecollective.org/local-work/

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SOA Watch's ¡Presente! T-Shirt Campaign

The Beehive is participating in SOA Watch's ¡Presente! T-Shirt Campaign, through May 21st! Get your limited edition t-shirt, and support the growth of the movement for justice and self determination in the Americas:  http://SOAW.org/bees

This design, by César Maxit, shows Ingrid Carillo, holding a picture of her relative who was forcibly disappeared by School of the Americas-trained security forces. The image is based on a photo by Linda Panetta, taken at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia.

The word ¡Presente! means "here" or "present" in Spanish. It is used at the gates of Ft. Benning, Georgia, when we remember those who were martyred by state security forces. We pronounce their names and bring their spirits before us as we respond: "¡Presente!"...You are here with us, and you are not forgotten.

When you order from this page -- http://SOAW.org/bees -- $5 of each t-shirt order will go to the Beehive. Through partnering with other groups on this t-shirt campaign, SOA Watch is mobilizing a network of mutual aid to help support all of our ongoing education and organizing work against militarization... The goal is to sell 300 T-Shirts by Thursday, May 21st! Please share the link and spread the word. Thank you!!!

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Kicking off a new poster about Detroit with two mega mindmapping sessions

Welcome to the very beginning of the collaborative process for constructing the Beehive Design Collective's next educational illustration, focused on Detroit!

Over the next six months five members of our collective will be gathering information, suggestions, and stories from folks directly affected by the issues that will be represented in the image, while also conducting a vigorous editing process to make sure that this complex, co-created cartoon is accurate and accountable.

All of this work will result in public domain, anti-copyright imagery that will be printed large-format as both storytelling posters and portable mural banners. These widely distributed visual storytelling materials will become valuable tools for educators and organizers to use in classrooms and all sorts of venues in both Detroit and Internationally.

On February 5th the first of many sessions to begin mapping out the scope of the image took place at the Allied Media Projects space. Over fifty people attended this initial mind-meld, each specifically invited to participate in honor of their deep, long-haul dedication to community organizing in the city. We are truly humbled to have this opportunity to translate the thoughts and suggestions of so many brilliant and dedicated people.

On February 6th the first open to the public mapping meeting took place, in the form of a potluck at the nearby Cass Corridor Commons. Again, there were around fifty participants from the area. This event began with a brief introduction of the Beehive work through a short storytelling session with our latest image 'Mesoamerica Resiste' to orient people to our previous work.

Both sessions took place in two parts, first a large group discussion and mind-map creation. Then smaller groups focused on creating charts and lists of major topics that the poster will likely discuss: Environmental Justice, Gentrification & Structural Violence, Culture & Soul, History, and Self-determination & Self-Governance. There was thorough documentation of each of the amazing discussions that we are now slowly playing back to capture every concept that was conveyed.

SO MUCH APPRECIATION for everyone that came out to share their thoughts! You can see more photos from those events here: Kicking off the Detroit Poster with two mega mindmapping sessions

We are now hard at work in synthesizing the overwhelming amount of information, while continuing to conduct daily interviews with groups and individuals. Please get in touch with us if you'd like to connect, or refer us to people you think are important for us to connect to! You can email us at DetroitBeehive@gmail.com or find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DetroitBeehive         The poster's construction will be happening in a public studio on the second floor of the Cass Corridor Commons at 4605 Cass Ave. thanks to the generous support of the Eastern Michigan Environmental Action Coalition. Visiting hours will be posted soon! with much love and solidarity, Juan, Nicole, Pat, Antonio and Kehben

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Updates from Bees in Appalachia

We Bees are a spread out network of pollinators, which is what makes it possible for us to tour in multiple regions (and countries) and continue to build relationships in the places our graphics campaigns come from. Last year a couple of Bees made the move to be based in Virginia and West Virginia, and they've been doing some great work with the True Cost of Coal poster, along with other Bees in the region. Here's a little update!

The last weekend in April 2014, at the Clearfork Community Institute in Eagan, TN, we led a training for facilitation and storytelling with the True Cost of Coal. It was something we've been talking about doing for a loooong time, and it felt good to finally get started on a more intentional process of passing on the content of the graphic. We invited a bunch of different folks organizing and working in various educational capacities across the coalfields. Y'all know what? There's a LOT of content in that graphic! Passing it all along is HARD! I think we learned a lot of important lessons, in a weekend workshop style format, and we are certain that there is much interest from folks across the region in learning the stories and back stories of the True Cost of Coal. We were only able to scratch the surface, but even from those beginnings, several "deputized Bee storytellers" have gone on to more confidently use the TCoC on their own at a variety of events across the region.

After that whirlwind first month back in the coalfields, our Bee in Virginia settled into a stay in Big Stone Gap, VA, and dove into a door-knocking Listening Project in the coal camp of Dunbar. This is one of the communities where Bees conducted interviews in the initial research trip for the TCoC in 2008. Even since then, the surrounding MTR sites have crept closer to peoples' homes, more residents have become ill, many households have lost their drinking water, and overall, the impacts of frontline living are bearing down more heavily. However, as dire as things have become, some folks seemed more willing to speak about their frustration with operators such as Jim Justice (check out the Justice to Justice campaign), which will hopefully eventually lead to folks' willingness to take further action to help stop permits from being approved, and to push the demands for clean up and re-employment.

A couple of Bees were able to give a TCoC presentation at the Greenpeace warehouse during the Exports Action Camp in June. A notable thing about that presentation: several folks who attended the TCoC training for trainers were present, and they were the best audience 'plants' ever, encouraging a lot of dialogue and participation in this presentation to mostly organizers.

In West Virginia, the Coal banner was hung at a Charleston meeting of folks opposed to surface mining adjacent to the nearby Kanawha State Forest. We were pumped to bring in the banner as a tool for conversation for both folks in the city and in the mountains. The banner was even used as a backdrop for the local news interviews (though we don't know if it made the final cut)! Otherwise we've gone to a few small festivals, some more overtly political than others, and despite some of our reservations about these settings, we've met really interesting folks and made some good contacts.

One new and hopefully ongoing format for sharing the TCoC has been collaborating with Dave Cooper (of MTR Roadshow fame) who attended our spring training. Dave has started a business called Visit Appalachia, LLC, hosting student groups on alternative break type trips to Harlan, KY and surrounding mountain communities. Scott Ellis had been working for Dave as the cook for these groups over the past couple of years, and so one consequence of his passing on was that Dave needed a new chef. He hired one of us Bees and one of the new pollinators from our spring training in a modification of this position, to cook and also co-facilitate for the groups. Mostly university students come on these trips, but we've loved working with two different middle school groups as well, and have found that the TCoC, in this longer format, is a fantastic tool for framing the immersion experiences the students have in the Kentucky coalfields in the context of everything-is-connected, its-worse-than-you-think, systems-change-not lightbulb-change, and Carol Judy magic...

One of those groups was the Springhouse School, a student-directed, project-oriented, independent school, 7th - 12th grade, in Floyd, VA. They’re interested in a follow up residency-type project, and we've been in conversation to plan future visits. The project arose from conversations about the proposed EQT 42” diameter fracked gas pipeline that is bearing down on WV and VA on its way to export on the coast, and so initially we were excited about creating a local educational resource about gas and extraction. However, though conversations the students had amongst themselves after the Beehive visit, the idea arose of doing a project about the factors that lead High School students across the county or surrounding counties into meth and other substance abuse... we couldn't say no to that, so we'll be exploring that topic with them.

Many of our events in Appalachia have been collaborative fundraising efforts to support RAMPS, SAMS, and Mountain Justice, and we look forward to continuing to support and give back to these groups doing frontline community organizing.

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A photo-essay update from one of our touring Bees, currently in India, who just finished teaching a 4 week course at the Srishti School of Art Design and Technology in Bangalore: photos of working with the Mesoamerica and True Cost of Coal graphics, popular education exercises, and students developing Beehive-inspired graphics about issues in India! Also check out the students' blogs about their work:

http://theemergenceoflgbtvoice.blogspot.in/ http://myideaoffreedom.wordpress.com/ http://kaveristories.blogspot.in/

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The Bees Swarm California using new and old images to tell stories of water privatization and resistance

California is in the midst of a historic drought, the most severe the region has had in the last 500 years. This water crisis has devastated resources, with several communities facing the prospect of running dry. Meanwhile, the state is proposing huge infrastructure projects as a solution to this water crisis. Drawing inspiration from struggles against large-scale infrastructure projects throughout Mesoamerica, the Beehive Collective toured with Restore the Delta up and down California to present a visual journey that touched on the local and the global struggle over the control and protection of water.

Our California tour featured two different graphics dealing with two separate, yet connected, regions. Drawing on similarities between the political and economic systems that enable large scale development at the cost of local communities, these graphics tell the stories of specific struggles in Mesoamerica, against a large-scale development plan (formerly called Plan Puebla Panama), and in the San Francisco Bay Delta, against the construction of twin tunnels (aka the Bay Delta "Conservation" Project, or BDCP) that threaten to deplete the delta of fresh water.

Our story started with farmer bee, with a story that connected the regions of Mesoamérica and California.

We followed farmer bee from their communally-held farm (or ejido) through the privatization of this land due to NAFTA and finally to their migration to a farm in California. At this point, Javier from Restore the Delta would talk about the working conditions of the farmers in the central valley, with toxic environments and food insecurity for those picking food in the breadbasket of the U.S.. Part of Javier's job is outreach to these farmers, and their story is one of the harsh realities of industrial agriculture. He would point out the jug of water in farmer bee’s hand, along with the backpack and hat as common outfits used by migrants as they cross the treacherous border areas, where many die of dehydration on their journey north. Groups like No Más Muertes (No More Deaths) are posted at the Arizona-Mexico border to aid migrants on this path and help avoid these tragic deaths.

Farmer Bee's once collectively held farm-land is now edged with barbed wire and used for cash crops and extractive industries, as a result of the concentration of land in private hands.

This story – of the appropriation of the commons – is mirrored in the draft graphic about the BDCP.

In the center of that graphic, a mansion sits atop a cloud of paperwork, encased within a sphere of water. The mansion is modeled after Stewart and Linda Resnick's Sunset Blvd home. The Resnicks own Paramount Farms, the world's largest producer of almonds and pistachios, and the largest citrus producer in the U.S. Their empire was built on the appropriation of the commons, specifically an underground reservoir known as the Kern County Water bank.

The Kern Country Water bank, a state-funded 730,000 acre-feet underground store of water, was built to store water in wet years so that it could be used during times of drought. But, control of this $74 million dollar project went into private hands after a series of closed meetings, which included Paramount.

Instead of aiding the State in times of drought, this massive store of water allowed Paramount Farms to double its acres of nuts and fruits since 1994, which you can see in the graphic being watered beneath the Resnick's mansion. Paramount also resold water from the bank to small farmers to irrigate their farms. The problem is, they sold more water than what actually exists in the bank. Now, the Resnicks and the Kern County Water bank are amongst the largest funders and proponents of both Prop. 1 and the BDCP. The reason is obvious: water "created" by these new infrastructure projects is already spoken for, and it will flow into the likes of the Resnicks, and other funders such as Chevron and the Westlands Water District.

California has promised its water users with five times more water than it can produce with rain and snow. This publicly subsidized water will be used to continue watering unsustainable desert farms, be resold to other interests for profit, and stored for private use. The water globe, modeled after a snow globe, illustrates how rich agribusiness barons remain untouched by the state's massive drought. To the right of the globe, forest fires rage as a reference to 2014’s streak of massive wildfires in the state, examples including the Happy Camp Complex and King Fire. King Fire resulted in 97,000 acres of forests and lands being destroyed in El Dorado County, in Northern California. To the left, cracked earth represents the lack of water for many communities, who are left without this essential resource during the drought. It has been often cited that seventeen communities in the state are poised for running out of resources in the next several months, East Porterville being an example of a community that has already run out.

Public deception, Private gains

On the outside of the Mesoamérica Resiste (MR) graphic, a jack-in-the-box PR clown puts on a show for the paper cut-out people, showing Plan Puebla Panama with a rainbow and a pot of gold at the end, promising riches. But these people are actually lining up to be shaken down for their money from these finger-puppet politicians. The money falls from their pockets, into a giant cash register. And as the money leave the cash drawer, the coins turn into pipelines, and the dollar bills into roads, signifying that it is the public that ultimately pays for this infrastructure, that amounts to a subsidy for big business.

Similarly, a deceptive ad campaign has pushed Prop. 1 into mainstream acceptance, showing images of wildlife and rivers to promote a project that would threaten both. With the BDCP, a cloud of paper work serves to obfuscate the nature of this water grab from public view. The paper cloud represents the over 40,000 pages that made up the environmental impact report for the BDCP Tunnels Project, written in English and legalese. Meanwhile, birds species attack the tunnels with flags that spell out "Stop the Tunnels" in 10 different languages, signifying the communities that have been shut out of the approval process for this project that will directly impact them.

The Scale of Development

Beneath the IDB character stretches the land mass of Mesoamerica. From this top-down view, all that you can see is major infrastructure projects that the global capitalists have planned for the region. To give you an idea of the scale of the Plan Puebla Panama project, at one point it had over 400 dam projects proposed within it.

California to date has 1400 dam projects, and Prop. 1 wants to build more. These archaic, 20th century dam projects will not pay for themselves, neither financially nor with new water, and will further devastate the ecology of our rivers which are already dried up, not just due to the current drought, but because of improper management and unsustainable diversions to desert farms.

Shock development

A faceless surgeon represents the International Monetary Fund (IMF) prescribing structural adjustment and performing reconstructive surgery on very battered looking body of Mesoamerica, extracting water, oil, and DNA. When a country is unable to pay the large loans it takes out to build mega-infrastructure, the IMF will help balance its books in exchange for the adoption of free market policies, which often means the privatization of key sectors of the economy and the implementation of austerity measures.

In California, the crisis generated over the drought functions to shock its population into accepting water infrastructure projects and immense public cost. The surgeon is seen using dams as defibrillators, as a desperate measure to keep an unsustainable economy alive. These shocks remind us of Naomi Klein's shock doctrine, which highlights how powerful interests exploit (and at times create) crises to push through free market policies and large-scale development.

Impacts and Resistance

Jumping to the inside of the MR graphic, we see a grassroots perspective on large-scale water infrastructure.

A dam holds back a massive body of water, with a church tower peaking above the water line, signifying a community that once was. Dams are huge displacers, and everytime a dam is erected, once dry land is submerged under water. Within California, the Winnemem Wintu tribe were displaced by Shasta Dam near Redding, California. The original people of the McCloud River, the Winnemem Wintu are now battling the Bureau of Reclamation over a proposal to raise the Shasta Dam and flood the tribe's sacred sites. The Winnemem Wintu have held war dances in protest of this project and some have threatened to drown themselves with their land should the dam be raised.

On the other side of the dam, letters fly out of homes (as the community is reinforced by social spiders forming webs of solidarity) representing a wave of public opinion against the dam. With the BCDP, a letter-writing campaign in response to the 40,000 page Environmental Impact Assessment have significantly delayed the project and even the federal EPA has come out with strong words against the project. The BDCP is not dead, but this illustrates that public engagement does have power and helped create more time to build a resistance to this destructive project.

A delicate and vital relationship

Melipona bees are pictured alongside vanilla orchids, taking care of these orchids and being taken care of by the vanilla plants. The eggs of a queen bee and the seeds of the vanilla orchid join to form the phases of the moon, to represent reproduction. The Melipona bee is the only known pollinator of the vanilla orchid, which is why commercial vanilla production is so expensive, as it requires hand pollination. Within the U.S., one out of every three bites of food is pollinated by honey bees. But this population is also threatened with decline, and the honey-bee intensive almond harvest is not helping matters.

Over 50% of the entire US honey bee population is trucked and shipped to California to pollinate its almond crops. While beekeepers across the country rely on the funds from this harvest to stay afloat, they have genuine concern that many of their hives are lost from the disorientation of this travel and the toxic nature of these pesticide-treated trees. In addition to being bee-intensive, almonds are also water intensive. According to the study "Water Footprints of derived crop products", each almond requires 1.1 gallons of water to produce. Additionally, farmers in Northern California valleys were quick to let us know that almonds grown in their valleys took 1/3 of the water that the central valley farmers (read: Resnicks) required. This is due to the fact that valleys in Northern California receive rain in the winter, and do not require water irrigation during this time.

Water Wars

A water privatization monster in the shape of a virus dominates the lower left corner of the MR graphic. Shaped like a virus, its straw-like legs are dug into the ground, sucking ancient water from underground aquifers. The over-pumping of groundwater is a major issue in California, with 30% of water coming from underground resources in wet years, and even more of this resource being depleted in dry years. So much is being sucked up that the ground is actually sinking. According to a recent study by the US Geological Survey, the ground in the San Joaquin valley sank as much as 28 feet over four decades. This dynamic leaves these areas more susceptible to flooding, and also permanently impacts the ground's ability to store water, as the clay deposits close in and the space for groundwater is lost

.

Over pumping has also created a groundwater class war. With the drought, many wells have run dry. In those cases, only those who can afford the deepest wells get any water.

To the side of the virus, aquatic animals struggle in a tug-of-war fight over surface water. Water diversion send water to arid regions, starving coastal ecosystems of much-needed water. Chinook salmon are threatened with gill rot if more water isn't released into California's rivers (most notably the Klamath), as this disease flourishes in warm water.

Within the BDCP graphic, a similar tug-of-war has two sandhill cranes – a mother and a father – struggle to pull water away from the giant vacuum tunnels which represent the BDCP. The sandhill cranes are some of the oldest-known species in the world, depicted in ancient Chinese screens. On their way migrating from Alaska, these beautiful birds roost along the Pacific Flyway, a region that would be directly impacted by the BDCP. The sandhill crane, year after year, roosts in the exact spot in which it did for years, and the alteration projects proposed by the tunnels would uproot and destroy these habitats not only for these birds, but for the ecosystem itself.

At the end of the other tunnel, a scene of cross-species solidarity depicts unlikely allies – a bird and a Delta smelt – work towards their mutual survival. The Delta smelt is both an indicator and a keystone species, meaning that its health is both an indicator of the health of the entire estuary, and the health of the eco-system is dependent on its survival. In the case of the Delta smelt, it is a feeder fish for many of the birds and animals that call the delta their home. In the graphic, a bird is scooping up a Delta smelt before it is sucked up by the tunnel vacuums, and throwing it into a fishbowl. In addition to highlighting the threat that water diversions have on this smelt itself, this scene also references the unlikely allies, such as the farmers, fishers and environmentalists, who have banded together to protect the delta from the threat of this large infrastructure.

Who uses the water?

To the left of the water monster, Uo Toad statues demonstrate individual uses of water, from drinking to bathing and cooking and cleaning our clothes. ­­­Water is essential to our lives on a daily basis, but according to a 2012 report by the Pacific Institute, only 4% of California's water is used by individuals. The rest is used by agriculture and industry, and much of it is wasted.

Agriculture is the main water user, and 80% is the oft-cited statistic to quantify its share of this precious resource. Going down the spine of the water monster, some other major water users are listed.

Bottled water is a surprising water user in California. Did you know that most the bottled water in the entire country (at least looking at the major brands) comes from California? This absurd state of affairs can only be explained with an even more absurd fact: California has the most lax groundwater pumping regulations in the entire nation. Recently, Jerry Brown moved to amend this ridiculous reality…. but not really. Regulation signed in September requires water districts to come up with plans to sustainably use their groundwater resources. But the communities don’t have to come up with this plan until 2020, and they don’t have to implement it until 2040! Additionally, we learned on tour that this new regulation is highly problematic in that it gives groundwater management authority to water districts, which are controlled by select landowners and are not accountable to the public.

Beneath the water bottles, mining buckets remind us of the immense water used for extractive industries, such as open-pit gold mining and fracking. California has four open pit gold mines that are either in production or gearing up for production. This practice uses massive amounts of water and also pollutes that water. Fracking is a new trend for the central valley and southern california, and this water intensive industry was recently caught dumping billions of gallons of oil industry waste water into California aquifers!

Beneath the mining trucks, the textile industry is referenced with a washer and blue jeans hanging outside. Within Mesoamerica, this references blue jean production which requires that jeans are washed 30 times before coming to market, leaving Mesoamerican rivers blue with dye. In California, this can reference our cotton industry, which grows this water intensive commodity in irrigated desserts.

The cows represent the grazing industry. Of California’s 6.5 million irrigated acres, almost 1 million are used for the production of water-intensive alfalfa to supply California’s cattle industry.

Finally, golf courses represent large manicured landscapes which collectively use as much water as the entire city of LA. The average golf course uses 312,000 gallons of water per day! Meanwhile California is second only to Florida in number of golf courses, at 921.

While the dynamics in California regarding drought and privatization are numerous, there exists a tremendous potential and energy in people power and public pressure to move forward for social justice. As international solidarity is starting to build, our dire situation in California is one of many. This people power could be seen in the People’s Climate March, in which the event in late September brought 400,000 to gather on the streets of New York City to demand change. One of the main arts organizers of the march, Rachel Schragis, lent the Bees a beautifully interactive art cranky piece entitled “It’s the Same Thing.” A scroll spanning more than one hundred feet long, the contents visually describe climate and corporate crisis from around the world. All the shows on our tour ended with the performing of this piece, which requires collective hums and pats to form the backbone of a song sung while the cranky unraveled to reveal the scenes within. While we face some of the most daunting issues of our times, there is hope in the many people that rise up to challenge injustice.

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We're excited to announce the launch of a crowdfunding campaign with our friends from Colectivos en Acción, to support the Caravan for the Well-being of Mesoamerican Peoples in Resistance!

En español: Ayúdanos a difundir este proyecto! El Laboratorio Ambulante para el Buen Vivir: https://goteo.org/project/laboratorio-ambulante-para-el-buen-vivir/?lang=es

The Caravan is a project in solidarity with indigenous communities, barrios, and farming villages that are cultivating autonomous alternatives in the face of territorial dispossession. From Mexico to Panama, we’ll document and foster the use of independent media and eco-technologies as tools that strengthen communal well-being. Help us create the mobile laboratory that will bring us to the communities!: visit https://goteo.org/project/laboratorio-ambulante-para-el-buen-vivir/?lang=en and share the campaign with your networks. We're looking for monetary donations as well as donations of media equipment, bike tools, graphics, and translation. Learn more about the project: http://caravanaparaelbuenviviren.wordpress.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/737069252995816/?source=1 Twitter: @Accion_Autonoma About us: Colectivos en Acción para el Buen Vivir de los Pueblos en Resistencia is an open network of collectives from Mexico, Germany, the United States, and other parts of the world who work in independent media and eco-technologies.

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Bees swarm California this fall, a collaborative tour with Restore the Delta and the NO on PROP 1 coalition:  http://www.restorethedelta.org/ http://www.noonprop1.org/

See all CA events here and invite your friends: https://www.facebook.com/events/533435560126791/

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Hooray!! It's that time again! The Beehive Design Collective invites folks from near and far to join us in celebrating the 9th Annual Blackfly Ball, a dress-up dance party for all! Come twirl the night away under the enchanting spell of soothing brass, wacky ukuleles, flocks of fiddles, and all sorts of musical talent from here and away! It's always a night to remember, full of magical torch-lit booty-shakin' by raging waterfalls!

More info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/584058678368247/ 

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Our Bees in Colombia have been on an incredible journey over the past few months with their first tour of Mesoamérica Resiste, packed full of presentations, workshops, and collaborative mural making, visiting many old friends and making new ones! Below are the links to all the Polinizaciones blog posts, in English and Spanish, documenting the whole tour.

Nuestras abejas en Colombia han estado en un viaje increíble los últimos tres meses con su primera gira de Mesoamérica Resiste, lleno de presentaciones, talleres, y la creación de murales colaborativos, visitando a muchos viejos amigos y conociendo a nuevos! Aqui están los enlaces a todas las entradas del blog Polinizaciones, en inglés y español, documentando todo el recorrido.

Shout out:

El Colectivo de Diseño la Colmena: Contra Expediciones Antioquia & la 1a Gira de Mesoamérica Resiste en Colombia

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Contraexpediciones: 

Counterexpeditions Antioquia: ¡Mining out of Farallones de Citará!

Contraexpediciones Antioquia: ¡Minería fuera de los Farallones de Citará!

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Opening of the Contraexpediciones exhibit:

Apertura de Contraexpediciones y una nueva misión en Project Noah / Opening of Contraexpediciones and a new Project Noah Mission

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Medellin:

Pollinating Mesoamérica Resiste in Medellin and Painting Resistance to Urban Displacement

Polinizando Mesoamérica Resiste en Medellín y Pintando Resistencias al Despojo Urbano

Polinizando con la Red Artística Popular - Cultura y Libertad / Pollinating with the Popular Artist Network  - Culture and Freedom

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San Lorenzo:

Pollinating for the first time with the Embera Chami People of Ríosucio, Caldas

Polinizando por primera vez con el Pueblo Embera Chamí de Riosucio, Caldas

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Manizales:

Polinizando en Manizales con el Colectivo La Rayuela / Pollinating in Manizales with the Rayuela Collective

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Cali:

Polinizando en Cali / Pollinating in Cali

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North Cauca:

Pollinating in Toribio and Tacueyó

Polinizando en Toribio y Tacueyó

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Silvia:

A return and re-encounter of pollinators in Wuampia

Un retorno y reencuentro de polinizadores en Wuampia

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Popayán:

Mesoamérica Resiste aterriza en Popayán / Mesoamérica Resiste lands in Popayán

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La Jagua:

Volviendo a La Jagua y viendo los cambios por Emgesa / Returning to La Jagua and seeing Emgesa´s changes

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Upside Down World Photo Essay / Ensayo Fotográfico:

The Beehive Collective's First Tour in Colombia of the New Graphic Campaign ‘Mesoamérica Resiste’

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Great Big Great Lakes Tour on the Homestretch

After a little break from touring in 2013, Tyler Bee was so excited to to get back into it that he booked his biggest tour ever this spring - from late February to late May, this great big Great Lakes tour includes over 80 presentations and workshops in 40 cities!

Last spring, Tyler did a mini-tour in his home state of Wisconsin, using the "True Cost of Coal" graphic as a tool to talk about the proposed Penokee Hills taconite mine which is threatening the Bad River Ojibwe community living on the shores of Lake Superior.  He was very impressed and inspired by the flexibility of the graphic and the possibility of making it a useful organizing tool for communities fighting other types of mining.

So on this tour, we have been meeting many lovely and inspiring groups and individuals in every location, learning about resource extraction around the Great Lakes region, especially in the form of fracking, tar sands (pipelines), and sulfide mining.  We have been crafting a special presentation called "ROCK BOTTOM in the Age of Extreme Resource Extraction," which uses scenes and characters from "The True Cost of Coal" and "Mesoamerica Resiste," but re-interprets them to tell these stories from the region we are travelling through.  It is very exciting to learn and share the important news of what is happening right now all around the worlds largest reserve of fresh water.  It is also very challenging!  We are making this presentation up as we go, tweaking details and sometimes changing it entirely before every show.  But we are learning so much, and continuing to build great networks throughout the region.   Joined by other bees and friends from Minnesota, Illinois, and Ontario, we have visited colleges, middle schools, alternative high schools, community art galleries, peace centers, churches, and even a not-for-profit cooperative pub!  In addition to this new show, we have also been giving "picture-lecture" presentations and participatory workshops with "The True Cost of Coal" and "Mesoamerica Resiste," as well as several collaborative graphic-making workshops (for adults and youth - so much fun!).

We have also had many opportunities to enjoy the breathtaking beauty of this region.  We explored ice caves on Lake Superior and giant sand dunes on Lake Michigan, saw double-rainbows over icebergs at the base of Niagara Falls, and even got to watch the lunar eclipse in a swirling snowstorm!

We are in the homestretch now, visiting numerous locations around Wisconsin through the end of April, and winding up in Minneapolis just in time for the epic May Day Puppet Parade!  There were so many requests for visits that Tyler will continue to visit locations in Wisconsin and Illinois all the way through the end of May.  Check our tour calendar for upcoming dates!

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Demolition in Derbies!

Who's game for an inspired Historic Preservation Summer with the Beehive Collective in Maine?!  The coming months will be a great time to visit the Hive! It’s Spring, and our Local Work is about to be in full bloom!                                                      

Over the past year, the scope of our collective’s work has been expanding both globally and locally... It's been a glorious rollercoaster of a ride, but those of us here hunkered down at the Beehive's base in Eastern Maine are looking forward to the upcoming four months of our collective's focus being more relaxed, physically tangible, place-based, and set at a pace that allows us all to truly enjoy each others company.

Thanks to receiving the big-deal "Creative Communities = Economic Development" award from our State Arts Commission this year, we FINALLY have the initial bits of funding necessary to turn our attention back to our cultural preservation and revitalization work in our small town of Machias... And so, off we go! 

We’d love your company this Summer. If gettin’ dirty fixin’ historic buildings, gettin’ clean in gorgeous swimming holes, and eatin’ lots of good food in-between, is your thing…  Or sounds like it could be!

Looking for different or more long-term ways to get involved with the Collective? We're also looking for you! But no rush... here's more information on other roles open at the Hive that we're hoping to fill over the coming year. Coming by to visit this Summer would be a great way to introduce yourself!

INTERESTED, MAYBE?... HERE'S THE SCOOP

There are four historic Downtown buildings in our care here on the beautiful, rugged coast of Washington County, Maine. These spaces are all in different states of restoration, all clustered around a stunning central waterfall park that feeds into a Bay of the Atlantic Ocean, and are all part of a respectful, collaborative community revitalization effort that we have been slowly evolving and participating in over the past 14 years. This Summer, with funds for materials finally available from grants, and volunteers from near and far... our goal will be to gently but passionately inch each of these spaces forward towards its full potential and long-term sustainability.

The Down East 5 & 10 Peanut Gallery is a Community Printshop and Arts Center that is in its initial stages of development. It is currently a raw, with original architectural features intact, 1000 sq foot space divided into 13 rooms, located in the beautiful top floor of the town's old variety store overlooking the river. A spiral staircase to a restored cupola on the new roof is beckoning for gardens in the long term... but for now, putting into action grant support from the Maine Community Foundation to rewire and re-wall this maze of possibilities is in our sights. And plans for a letterpress printshop are fully underway!

The Machias Valley Grange was our first restoration effort in town, and now hosts community events year round. There are still small improvements and upkeep to be made on this beloved building, and we'll be tackling a few of the more urgent ones if we have the capacity. The Grange will be hosting many activities this Summer including dances, memorials, potlucks, the County's Fiddle Festival and a new Kid's Summer Camp.

The Grange now has a Sister Building, across the street, that has ambitious plans underway for overhaul & revival as a Victory Gardens Era inspired Parkside Community Kitchen. This Summer, as the main focus of the building's work remains in the planning and fundraising stage, we will be stabilizing a few of the more urgent building issues and doing some demolition work.

The Hive's headquarters in the Historic Clark Perry house will be undergoing a complete replacement of its roof and exterior paint by hired professionals that some of us will be assisting in small ways. (Still taking bids on the paintjob, if you know contractors that might be interested!) We also will be building out the interior of the awesome 3rd floor attic space into additional volunteer living quarters thanks to a grant from Quimby (Burt's Bees) Foundation!

Bad Little Falls Park is adjacent to these sites. Work to continue with pollinator-loving perennial landscaping and the collaborative installation of a timber frame arbor in the ghost-shape of the Grist Mill that formerly stood in the park will be taking place this Summer as well.

WE WILL BE TACKLING THESE EFFORTS DURING MONTHLY WORK WINDOWS THE LAST TWO WEEKS OF EACH MONTH FROM JUNE TO SEPTEMBER. --June 16th to 29th--July 14th to 27th (alongside Kids Camp at the Grange)--August 18th to 31st (join us for the Blackfly Ball on the 16th)--September 22nd to October 5th (join us for the Common Ground Fair Sept.19th to 21st)--

Yes! The magical Blackfly Ball, our town's annual dance by the waterfalls, will be happening again this year, on August 16th, but will be a bit less ambitious this time around, with no adjacent events. We always appreciate help setting up the week before it, if you'd like to come elaborately decorate the park with us!

IN BETWEEN JUNE 1st and OCTOBER 5th... HERE'S WHO ALL WE'LL NEED ON BOARD TO DO THIS STUFF WELL:

Local and Visiting folks both skilled and unskilled, happy to lend a hand towards pulling these spaces back together for the greater good of our community. For visitors, If you are with us for more than a day, please come prepared to donate a bit of honey towards covering costs of food. We'll be preparing delicious group meals and gathering donations of produce, but y'all bein' ready to pitch about 5 to 8 bucks a day into the food fund will help in case we don't secure other funding for this expense. (skilled labor's food expenses may be covered) Indoor and outdoor camping are our accommodations, Let us know if you have need of a bed or more structured hosting situation. Please say hello HERE when you get a chance!

Two full-time coordinators for extra planning capacity for these monthly restoration work windows. Must be available for the entire duration of June 1st to October 5th. Your group food costs will be covered and we'll provide you with your own bedroom. (POSITIONS FILLED)

To be able to focus the majority of our attention on these small town fixin's, we are also searching for Three folks that would like to come help coordinate a focused overhaul of our outward pollination systems of poster distribution and printing. Must be available for the entire duration of June 1st to October 5th. Arriving ASAP is fantastic! Your group food costs will be covered and we'll provide you with your own bedroom. (POSITIONS FILLED)

One full-time coordinator for gathering in-kind donations of produce, plants and building supplies. Also, organizing worktrade at local farms in exchange for produce. Must be available for the entire duration of June 1st to October 5th. Your group food costs will be covered and we'll provide you with your own bedroom. (POSITION FILLED)

One full-time food systems coordinator for organizing collectively prepared meals. Must be available for the entire duration of June 1st to October 5th. Your group food costs will be covered and we'll provide you with your own bedroom. (POSITION FILLED)

All ages and abilities welcome! Introverts and divergent-thinkers highly encouraged! Internationals, we’ll assist! Kids rule! Digital forms can’t convey your rowdy awesomeness? We agree, surprise us! Pairs of friends, yes please!

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT US:

We are a non-profit art activist collective, best known for our dedication to making anti-copyright illustrations for use as educational tools. Our mission is to “cross-pollinate the grassroots.” We value collaborative work, creative problem solving, and dismantling colonial mentality. As the bee metaphor dictates, we are endlessly busy in the effort to illuminate the connections between single issues and the “big picture.” Our organism requires long hours, patience and a solid sense of humor, but is consistently surprising, rewarding and so far, mindbogglingly successful!

But to make the kind of difference we want to make in the world... We need you! 

Here’s that link again… for more information and sayin’ hello.