Earth Day 2020

See what all the buzz is about in today’s interactive Earth Day Doodle, made in collaboration with The Honeybee Conservancy based in New York! Guide your bee to pollinate flowers while learning fun facts about bees and our planet that they help to sustain.
 

Special thanks to The Honeybee Conservancy for their close partnership on this project. Below, Founder and Executive Director Guillermo Fernandez shares his personal thoughts behind the Doodle and what you can do to help save bees while social distancing:

I immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba at the age of one. The neighborhood I grew up in was a crowded, urban area where one-third of the multi-ethnic community lived in poverty. Finding fresh fruit or vegetables to eat was next to impossible: the nearest supermarket mostly stocked processed foods, and our local restaurants were all fast food chains. There wasn’t a tree or garden in sight; the only park was full of concrete.

We lived in a food desert, and it took a toll on the community. Rampant health issues like obesity, diabetes, and asthma were largely the result of poor nutrition and a degraded environment. We had a distressingly low level of “food literacy” — knowing where food comes from and how to eat a balanced diet. The underfunded education system and limited green spaces amplified the problem: there were no pathways to learn. My situation wasn’t unique — in the U.S. alone, 13.5 million people live in food deserts, and 30 million suffer from food insecurity.     

So, I started The Honeybee Conservancy in 2009 for two key reasons:

First, I wanted to help save the bees, who pollinate 1 in 3 bites of food we eat and are vital to healthy ecology. There are 20,000 species of bees around the world who do this essential work. In North America, currently 1 in 4 of the 4,000 native bee species are at risk of extinction. On a larger scale, the world’s survival depends on theirs. 

Second, I wanted to find ways to empower underserved communities like the one I grew up in to produce healthy food and build green spaces. Our flagship program Sponsor-a-Hive gives honeybee hives and native bee homes to organizations ranging from gardens to schools. By alleviating financial and educational barriers (keeping honeybee hives is a costly investment that requires training), we create access to resources that in turn produce food, improve the environment, and bring people together.

What we love about today’s Google Doodle is how it captures the impact a single bee has on the plants and habitats it visits. Imagine then, the pollinating power that trillions (yes, trillions!) of bees have on ecosystems around the world! 

Today’s Doodle also reminds us all of how small actions performed by individuals everywhere add up to big results. And while beekeeping may be not be for everyone, there are so many easy ways to help save bees, even while social distancing in today’s world:

• 1. Support your local beekeeper. When purchasing honey and beeswax products, choose locally-made options to invest in local beekeepers, who sustainably raise bees and bolster the community. 

• 2. Donate time or funds to local environmental groups. Bees are part of a complex ecosystem, and contributions to organizations that support any conservation effort will help strengthen the environment.

• 3. Make safe havens for native bees. Most native bees have a solitary lifestyle: 30% live in holes inside trees, and 70% live underground. Give them shelter by providing exposed, undisturbed soil or nesting boxes that you can buy or make yourself.

• 4. Create a bee bath. Fill a shallow bird bath or bowl with clean water, and arrange stones inside so that they poke out of the water. Bees will land on the stones to drink on breaks from foraging and pollinating.

• 5. Plant a pollinator garden. Diversify sources of bee nutrition while beautifying spaces with pollinator-friendly plants. Make a garden in spaces ranging from window boxes to full yards, and consider using a mix of multi-season blooms to provide year-round sustenance.

There’s no sweeter feeling than knowing you’ve helped save the bees. Learn more here about honeybees, native bees, and ways you can help. At the very least, we hope you’ll swarm over to today’s Google Doodle to learn more about our helpful, winged friends!
 

Earth Day Doodle Team Q&A

Today’s Doodle art was led by Doodler Gerben Steenks, with engineering by Doodlers Jacob Howcroft & Stephanie Gu.

Below, they share some thoughts on the making of the Doodle:

Q: What was your approach for this Doodle?

A: The most fun challenge for this Doodle was to generate an infinite world. The player can keep pollinating forever, so we needed to create an environment that was randomly generated, but still felt natural. 

Q: What was a technical hurdle you ran into, and how did you resolve it?

A: Since the game goes on as long as you want it to, you can end seeing thousands of flowers, trees, and bushes. Optimizing our code to make sure we could include all this content was definitely challenging!

 Q: What do you hope people will take away from this Doodle?

A: We hope people understand the importance of bees to the earth and to humanity. For those who want to take action, anyone can have a positive impact by growing pollen-producing plants! 

Share the buzz on Earth Day! Search for ”GoogleDoodles” in Gboard, GIF Keyboard by Tenor, or the GIF search in your favorite social apps.

EARTH DAY DOODLE 2020 TEAM

Lead Artist | Gerben Steenks

Engineering | Jacob Howcroft, Stephanie Gu

Producer | Colin Duffy

UX Design | Diana Tran

Music & Sound Design | Todd Baker

Marketing | Perla Campos, Grace Chen

Business Affairs Lead & Partnerships | Madeline Belliveau

Doodle Team Lead | Jessica Yu, Brian Kaas

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SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

The Honeybee Conservancy

Executive Director | Guillermo Fernandez

Managing Director | Rebecca Louie