Cracks in the Ceiling? Bee Sweet to Houseguests!

Image Collage: Bees’ Home Office
Image Credits/Sources (From Left to Right): Honey Dripping through Cracks in Ceiling & Varney, Ontario Homeowners: WILLY WATERTON /QMI AGENCY,
Microsoft Office Clipart: Bees & Honeycomb
2012 @ wobuilt

Here’s a different take on living in harmony with nature. Is the latest "home invasion" by bees Mother Nature’s way of telling us we need to rekindle a deep reverence for the Queens of the Sun?

The latest incident of home invasion by bees is being touted online as a "horror story" for a Varney, Ontario couple. Two hives. Up to 180,000 bees. Approximately 2,000 pounds of honeycomb, dripping with honey right through growing cracks in the ceiling. A nest of yellow-jackets thrown in for good measure.

David Schuit, an Elmwood, Ontario beekeeper and his helpers were planning on taking down the ceiling in the living room and kitchen on Monday and removing the hives and honeycombs. Schuit exclaimed: "It’s really amazing. Bees are fascinating."

So, a sticky situation that was easily four years in the making, which could have ended much worse, seems well on its way to a finding a sweet resolution. All’s well that ends well. Get the whole story at cnews.

Like so many such stories, this one will buzz its way around the ‘Net, Twitterverse and inboxes for a while before vanishing into popular-consciousness oblivion. In six months’ time, it will at best be recalled as an urban legend.

This is the real "horror" of the story. Bee colonies are collapsing around the world. From fatal parasite infestations and disease epidemics to over-use of toxic pesticides and GMO crops, the very existence of nature’s most critical pollinating creature is in jeopardy. The "Queens of the Sun" are facing dark skies ahead, indeed.

It doesn’t help that our monoculture agricultural practices see tens of thousands of bee colonies shipped from one end of North America to the other each and every year to pollinate immense crop fields. This practice not only puts tremendous stress on individual hives, but allow for intermingling of colonies that would otherwise be separated from tens of thousands of miles. The result? Contagions and parasites once contained to specific geographic locations infect colonies across the continent in one convenient step (thanks to human beings).

Maybe by bunking with humans, the bees are trying to tell us something. Maybe it’s because they know humans won’t be throwing their own home on the back of a flat-bed truck to drive thousands of miles. Maybe it’s because they know some humans are smart enough not to spray high concentrations of toxic substances in their house.

In other words, maybe the bees are trying to express how they like the same things we like: brightly coloured sweet smelling flowers; safety and security for their family; the chance to live and work in peace and harmony; freedom from tyranny and slavery. They’re reminding us our ancestors used to revere and respect them as sacred.

Are we saying you need invite bees into your home? It’s not that far-fetched an idea. New Yorkers recently fought for their right to keep bees in the city. Even the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto has its own rooftop hives. With Peapod Life indoor ecosystems, there is definitely an opportunity to include nature’s most precious pollinators.

For more information on hive collapse syndrome, the importance of local permaculture and how to "bee sweet," for the sake of all creatures, we recommend the excellent, award-winning documentary, Queen of the Sun.


Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

youtube.com: Queen of The Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? - Official Trailer [HD]
QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? is a profound,
alternative look at the global bee crisis from Taggart Siegel,
director of THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN.
Official Film Website: http://www.queenofthesun.com
Uploaded by Collectiveeye on Feb 11, 2011

Find related articles and links:
cnews.canoe.ca: 180,000 bees invade Ontario home
Honey dropping from the ceiling
By Scott Dunn, QMI Agency July 29, 2012

owensoundsuntimes.com: news local: Invasion of the honey bees
By Scott Dunn, Sun Times, Owen Sound July 29, 2012

intelligencer.ca: News Ontario: Honey pit: Ontario house a honey pit
by scott.dunn@sunmedia.ca July 29, 2012

globalpost.com: Honeybee house anything but a home sweet home
Canadian woman finds 180,000 bees, 2,000 pounds of honey in attic.
by David Trifunov July 30, 2012

ctvnews.ca: 80,000 bees found inside Ontario home
80,000 bees, 100 kg of honey, found inside Varney, Ont. home
The Canadian Press, July 30, 2012 + 18 Comments

Living with Plants inside an enclosed Ecosystem: Doctor Tested and Approved

Screenshot: Professor Iain Stewart lived for two days in a glass box
Source: london24.com/news/health: Doctor proves plants
hold the secret to life - by locking a man in a box
by Kate Ferguson, Reporter Saturday, February 18, 2012
Image Source: london24.com/news/health

A professor in the U.K., Dr. Ian Stewart, has gone to the extreme to prove just how vital plants are to our survival. For two days, he lived in a glass box with nothing but plants.

The experiment was the brainchild of Dr. Daniel Martin, a Consultant with Royal Free, who decided to replicate an experiment first conducted by 18th Century chemist Joseph Priestly—an experiment which would prove the existence of photosynthesis.

"Although, he did kill the first mouse,” Dr. Martin said of Priestly’s experiment which consisted of a mouse in a bottle.

Obviously, the 21st Century human redo at the Eden Project in Cornwall had a few safety measures in place, with Dr. Martin observing levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen. Still, most of the oxygen was sucked out of the box before the experiment began.

The public could watch as Professor Stewart exercised to increase CO2 for the plants, who in turn produced O2 for the good Professor. All in all, the simple indoor ecosystem went for two days.

Why stop at only two days? Living in a small oxygen-deprived box surrounded by plants makes for an interesting scientific experiment — and a pretty cool stunt — but at the end of the day, is pretty extreme for the average individual / family.

The real purpose of the exercise must have been to illustrate the value of plants on the vitality of humans. In other words, their effect on the vitality of our interior environments: livability and quality of interior space.

No matter what you live in today, Peapod Life has options to bring indoor ecosystems into your space to create extreme comfort, beauty, health and wellness, even food security ... without having to go to extremes.


Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Extreme Comfort without going to Extremes:
Peapod Life is Comfortable and Livable 365 days a year!
2012 @ wobuilt + peapodlife

links:
bbc.co.uk: Scientist starts plant-only oxygen test at Eden Project
A scientist is spending 48 hours sealed inside an airtight chamber breathing in oxygen produced solely by plants.14 September 2011
dailymail.co.uk: Living in a box: Scientist to spend 48 hours in an airtight container with 160 plants to keep him alive
By Ted Thornhill, Updated: 8 September 2011
edenproject.com: Scientist to be sealed plant-filled “bell jar” at the Eden Project for BBC photosynthesis experiment
14 September 2011
facebook.com: How Plants Made The World - Taken at Eden Project, Cornwall, UK
By BBC Scotland - Updated about 10 months ago
hamhigh.co.uk: Doctor proves plants hold the secret to life - by locking a man in a box
by Kate Ferguson, Reporter Saturday, February 18, 2012

Green Success: Attendees of Live Green Toronto Festival give indoor ecosystems two green thumbs up!

Photos: Wo-Built Shares Its Latest Innovation for Peapod Life
Live Green Toronto Festival – where green hits the streets!
Toronto's largest celebration of all things green!
Saturday, July 21, 2012 @ Yonge-Dundas Square
and all along Yonge Street, from Dundas to Queen
2012 @ Wo-Built + Peapod Life

• At the @LiveGreenTO festival at Yonge and Dundas showing off the indoor eco system for condos and apartments. #Toronto
• @peapodlife @LiveGreenTO Festival Lots of visitors. Great. Come & see us here on Yonge. Unveiling of condo version of indoor eco system.
• Wow. Visitors 2 @LiveGreenTO festival who stopped by our booth loved the Condo @Peapodlife. Join the fun. Lots 2 see at the event.#Toronto
• @LiveGreenTO festival still in full swing. What a great day for unveiling Peapod Condo @peapodlife

@wobuilt tweets July 21, 2012

This past weekend Wo-Built attended the annual Live Green Toronto Festival on Yonge Street. Many ecology and sustainability-oriented companies, non-profits and agencies were out to showcase their products and services to the community.

Wo-Built was also present to showcase its latest innovation for Peapod Life: mini self-contained ecosystems designed for condos, apartments and other smaller spaces.

Peapod Life indoor ecosystems consist of aquaponics and include plants and optional living walls encased in attractive glass and wood enclosures. Timers and other supporting technologies ensure the systems are kept at the right temperature and humidity, with a constant stream of water recirculating throughout the unit.

Plants and select wildlife keep the system in perfect balance and practically maintenance-free.

Wo-Built had a Peapod Life demonstration unit on hand and the response was overwhelmingly positive. People loved the look and really liked the benefits of fresher air and a living system for their home.

The Live Green Toronto Festival was proof that Peapod Life really is desired by the general public, and will soon be available via the peapodlife.com website.


Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Photos: Wo-Built Shares Its Latest Innovation for Peapod Life
Live Green Toronto Festival – where green hits the streets!
Toronto's largest celebration of all things green!
Saturday, July 21, 2012 @ Yonge-Dundas Square
and all along Yonge Street, from Dundas to Queen
2012 @ Wo-Built + Peapod Life

Extreme Heat and Drought: two more reasons for taking charge of your life with Peapod Life

Photo: Corn stalks struggling from lack of rain and a heat wave covering
most of the country lie flat on the ground Monday, July 16, 2012, in Farmingdale, Ill.
Image Credit: AP Photo/Seth Perlman
Source: Yahoo! News: Drought worsens crop damage, raising world food, fuel worry

It’s official: North America is experiencing some of the worst drought conditions in decades. It is being widely reported that the impact on food prices will have a major impact on an already beleaguered economy.

Peapod Life believes the time may be approaching when individuals and families will have to rely on themselves to ensure they have ready access to fresh produce and other foodstuffs. And, as admirable as urban and rooftop gardening efforts are, they can do little without Mother Nature’s cooperation.

Indoor ecosystems by Peapod Life benefit from a controlled environment all year ‘round. Peapod Life ecosystems are sheltered from extreme heat and cold, and constantly re-use and recycle their own water and nutrients, requiring a fraction of the inputs of traditional agriculture.

Because Peapod Life is not a greenhouse or a solarium but shares useable living space, the ecosystem’s environment is your environment: there is no disconnect between your life or your Peapod Life. This maximizes efficiency and ensures conditions suitable to produce food are constantly maintained.

The type and quantity of produce you can grow with Peapod Life depends on your existing indoor space and/or the availability of space to build a Peapod Life addition.

Contact Wo-Built, The Vision Builder, to see how your residential and/or commercial property can be upgraded with Peapod Life. Take charge of your life and future food security today.

Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Career Buzz interview with Martina Ernst, President & CEO, Wo-Built Inc.: Part Four

CIUT 89.5 Show: Career Buzz Canada, Wednesday, 11-12 pm
Be inspired by ordinary people with extraordinary stories
who share the secret twists and turns in their own careers and lives.
Screenshot credit: ciut.fm/career-buzz

This is the last part of a transcript of Career Buzz interview with Martina Ernst, President & CEO, Wo-Built Inc. (Click here for part three.)

Martina Ernst interview on Career Buzz Canada with Mark Swartz



Part 4:
What were the biggest challenge you had to overcome when starting up your business?
How do you continue to integrate your social mission with your for profit objectives?
What triumphs have you experienced as an entrepreneur?
What advice would you give to a start-up entrepreneur?

Mark: Now, Martina, when you started up what would be the biggest challenge that you had to overcome? You have talked about two different messages that might be at odd - design/build and you have to bring women into the trades. What other challenge you have had to overcome because you have been in this business now for 5 years and most new businesses go belly up within a year or two, so did it past that critical stage?

Martina: Well, we are very lucky, in a sense that we were able to sustain it for that long. But we do have all the issues that any other start-up has, we have a cash flow issues, we have issues of how we get our message out there, how do we get clients, and because of what kind of projects we do. Our projects, the additions and extensions, start ranging from $100.000 and upwards, so it’s a big chunk of money you have to dedicate towards us and that is one of the challenges actually. You are a new start up and you are asking people pay all this money and there is a trust factor. Of course, with longevity, being in business for five years is helping a little bit. So, that all sorts of issues we had as a start-up company.

Mark: OK, today you are an ongoing and you are a thriving small business. How do you continue to integrate your social mission with your for profit objectives?

Martina: It has not changed – what we do as we grow our social mission grows with us. The idea is when we make a commitment to the social mission you don’t minimize it after you getting some traction on your business. You grow your social mission with you. You actually expend it, you make it bigger, and you change direction into another social mission which is possibly more in line with what you do as your profit sector.

Mark: Could you give us a quick example of how you have grown that social mission along with your for profit site?

Martina: Well, we are on a building site and on women in construction site, the more sites we have that can sustain women the more women we hire from the colleges.

Mark: Excellent. You do get your word out with the colleges as well? Do you liaise with them? Do you have some sort of arrangements at all or it just on informal basis?

Martina: Well, the colleges know about us, some of them do, and George Brown certainly does. We have a liaison with them on ongoing basis and when we do have the sites we contact to them. Yes, we are in contact with them.

Mark: OK, great. Now, in terms of being ongoing you must have been experienced a couple of triumphs in addition to your challenges. So, maybe you can share some of the good stories or good sites of what’s going on in terms of getting clients, bringing people in from to help mentor them. What can you think of?

Martina: For me, personally, because my background is architecture I just love to see things built. So, I always get a huge buzz when I actually see a product finished. But one of the most heartfelt things which happen was when somebody we mentored really expressed the gratitude to us and it was very heartwarming that we made of a little bit of difference in that woman’s live.

Mark: So, it is intrinsically rewarding as well as profitable for you.

Martina: Well, it has to be because being a social entrepreneur is the way of life. It is really comes from your heart off what you are doing. So you are sacrificing some profits towards that social mission. You are making choices.

Mark: Hopefully, not always so. I am sure that in some cases when the mission melt with the for profit site as you say it can grow in tandem in conjunction with each other and over time you get bigger slices of both.

Martina: Yes, that is true. All of this goes in conjunction with each other but you still make choices. You get bigger, you have bigger profit margin. How much of that do you dedicate towards your social mission? It is always a choice of what you do and you have to have a real commitment to that other site of your business.

Mark: OK, Martina, you are a veteran now of social entrepreneurship having lasted five difficult years. What advice would you give to a start-up entrepreneur; who want to be able to bring some sort of social goodness, some sort of cause into their business?

Martina: The most important thing is that your message, your social mission is in line with your business. Then you can push both things forward in the same way. One of hypothetical example of that would be, for example a panel manufacturer who wants to alleviate asthma in kids which might be cause through mould. This manufacturer can manufacture mould resistant panels. So, those two things are inline then. The mission of alleviating asthma though mould with what they manufacture. If anybody wants to start a company like this you have to really look into what are your messages, who is your target market, and are these things actually inline.

Mark: OK, that’s great information. You are listening a Career Buzz radio, Canada’s unique radio conversation which empowers lives and energizes organizations on CIUT 89.5 FM.

Career Buzz interview with Martina Ernst, President & CEO, Wo-Built Inc.
Part 1: What Wo-Built Is about?
Part 2: Challenges of Running a Business;
Part 3: What Peapod Life Is about?
Part 4: Social Entrepreneurship Is a Way of Life.

About Mark Swartz
Mark Swartz, MBA, M.Ed., is a leading Canadian speaker, Monster.ca National Career Coach and Columnist; author of best-seller Get Wired, You're Hired!, and CareerActivist. He may be reached by visiting careeractivist.com.

Career Buzz interview with Martina Ernst, President & CEO, Wo-Built Inc.: Part Three

CIUT 89.5 Show: Career Buzz Canada, Wednesday, 11-12 pm
Be inspired by ordinary people with extraordinary stories
who share the secret twists and turns in their own careers and lives.
Screenshot credit: ciut.fm/career-buzz

This is part three of a transcript of Career Buzz interview with Martina Ernst, President & CEO, Wo-Built Inc. (Click here for part two.)

Martina Ernst interview on Career Buzz Canada with Mark Swartz



Part 3:
What Peapod Life is about?

Mark: All right, in terms of your current business and you have mentioned that you are beginning to moving into this whole green sphere: the eco-building or building and design what is going to be an environmentally-friendly in sound. So, you have an initiative that you are working on right at this moment. I have gone to trade shows to visit you and I’ve seen you at your booth and you were whipping up a storm and chatting it, chatting it away. What about this initiative?

Martina: Well, we call it Peapod Life. And it a glass enclosure that is for both living and working and growing plants on a larger scale. So, you can do both live in it, you can work in it, and you can grow plants, and, we actually growing food plants in it, as well.
What we did over the last couple of years was to identify that there were other issues in society that needed help. One of them is food. We are always concerned about food. Yesterday, I was at an event which was hosted by FoodForward Toronto and people were talking about food shortages in Toronto, so that people cannot actually get fresh foods in some areas and so on. It just emphasizes that there is need out there for people to supplement their food sources.
We came up with the product that allows both living and growing off plants. We have solar cells to produce the energy to help run it, we have rain water recovery to help watering the plants, so it is more than just having an energy-neutral building. We are looking at having an energy-gaining and energy-producing building.

Mark: This is not simply adding a green house to your backyard. You are talking about building a living space – an extension to your existing home that allows you to be like a living room with plants and stuff growing in it. Is that essentially it?

Martina: Yes, that is exactly what it is. Because you cannot really live in your green house: it is not insulated enough, it has not the right ventilation, and you don’t have humidity control, so we have to integrate all these elements in it. And our social mission in that sense is a) to provide a different way of looking at buildings and b) to provide possibility of people having an alternative to their food sources.

Mark: That’s great. Just to remind to our listeners that I am speaking on Career Buzz Radio and I am chatting with Martina Ernst, a founder of Wo-Built, a women's build social entrepreneurial company for profit that not only designs and builds in this case some green space, additions to homes that their newest product but also helps to bring young women into the workforce within a construction trades, so - social mission and for profit.

Please click here for part four: Career Buzz interview with Martina Ernst, President & CEO, Wo-Built Inc.

Career Buzz interview with Martina Ernst, President & CEO, Wo-Built Inc.: Part Two

CIUT 89.5 Show: Career Buzz Canada, Wednesday, 11-12 pm
Be inspired by ordinary people with extraordinary stories
who share the secret twists and turns in their own careers and lives.
Screenshot credit: ciut.fm/career-buzz

This is part two of a transcript of Career Buzz interview with Martina Ernst, President & CEO, Wo-Built Inc. (Click here for part one.)

Martina Ernst interview on Career Buzz Canada with Mark Swartz



Part 2:
What are the challenges of running a business that also has a social mission?
How to get media exposure for your startup?
How to support your social mission?

Mark: Great. You say some of your people you have mentored have gone on to larger different experiences; do you think that you have infused into them the spirit of mission that they may carry on as well?

Martina: I think to a certain extent, maybe. I cannot talk for them but I am hoping that we have, because we think that social entrepreneurship, if you are talking to a smaller company like ours, is that our influence maybe like a pebble in the water when you throw it in, and maybe the ripple effect will actually bring a wider and wider and wider influence sphere.

Mark: It’s nice analogy. Now, you are running a business that also has a social mission that must be somewhat complicated because from time to time there, I am assuming, could have been some inconsistencies or challenges: you want to do right; you want to do the best thing for your people but at the same time you gotta make a buck. So, tell me a little bit about that.

Martina: We actually had many challenges over the last five years. One of them was that the economy was not very good so, what happen also was, because we actually had a training mission which was coupled with a construction company which is a building company, so we had two different messages. We had our training and mentoring message and we also had our building message. And to push both of them forward to the same extend was quite challenging because the two messages are not that much inline. We found that over time because our social mission of women in construction took off, it actually got a lot of PR and we had a lot of success with it in terms of that. Now we feel that it just runs on its own and we are getting more and more involved in green building. So now we have a new product which is an integrated green building mission in many ways, you can say.

Mark: OK, great. Let’s come back to the green portion of it in just a moment because it’s very topical and it is mission oriented. But you mentioned something earlier I think our listeners might want to hear especially if they are thinking about starting a business, social mission. You talked about getting PR, public relations, media exposure for the training of women in construction, and you said that got some traction. So, how that came about?

Martina: Well, actually, sometimes we approached people and told them about what we were doing and they got excited about it and they started writing about us or we, actually, got approach by them because they have heard of us and wanted to interview us. That is how we got the PR.

Mark: Tell me what kind of media exposure did you get at this point?

Martina: We were written up by The Toronto Star, at one stage; and we were mentioned in a couple of other articles, as well.

Mark: OK, great. At that point, did you push on it or really it was what’s coming in, and this is nice, but you were satisfied with the level of exposure?

Martina: That is an interesting question because hindsight is always 20/20, and I think we probably should have pushed a lot more then that what we did. We were just very, very pleased that people were writing about us and they wanted hear about us but, I think we did not actually push it enough.

Mark: OK, but for businesses that just starting out there are so many different aspects that you need to focus on, so, it’s understandable that once momentum begins in one area, likely, you are getting some publicity, you are taking your eye for a bit, you move on to the next thing, like you know, make me a few bucks.

Martina: Well, it was also coupled with the fact that the two messages were intertwined, so we also had to get our building message out because that’s really what makes us money and that is what actually supports our social mission. So we had to push on that a lot more than the social mission and somehow it got turn around.

Mark: As these things sometimes do.

Please click here for part three: Career Buzz interview with Martina Ernst, President & CEO, Wo-Built Inc.