Emma 
Warren is the CEO of Plan Bee, an innovative company which is based in Glasgow. An active Apiarist (bee keeper to you and me), Warren took the jump from hobbyist to professional after moving from South Africa to Scotland and noticing the lack of availability of Scottish honey in shops, products and restaurants in comparison to other countries. Seeking a new direction in life, he sought to combine pleasure and business in an ethical way.
Bees are an integral part of our food chain, without pollination there would be no flowers, no food for animals and then no food for us. Thinking of what you are currently eating and you will see how it all comes down to bees. The world appears to be very slowly weakening up to the importance of bees and their impact on our survival.
As well as their vastly important pollination job, we also receive honey, pollen and propolis from bees. All of these items are used in a wide variety of ways, such as sporting, beauty and health products.
Plan Bee provide hives, equipment and training for those who are interested in supporting the re-establishment of bees in the urban area. Urban areas are attractive to bees due to the abundance of different foodstuffs (a diet of a single plant type grown in fields doesn’t excite the bee palate). By siting hives in urban areas we can give bees a life with less pesticides and a tastier meal variety and thus provide a Scottish honey to be proud of.
Engaging with nature in a sustainable and educational way is also one of the green legacy points of Commonwealth 2014 games which Plan Bee are involved in. Schools, community groups and clubs are keeping hives, building orchards and learning to create ethical, sustainable products. School kids are developing various skills such as managing the hives and learning about bees in an educational framework – geography required for bees, science behind honey, maths behind hexagonal cell types.
Many companies support Plan Bee – Highland Spring, Stobo Castle and the Two Fat Ladies Restaurant Group are some organisations that understand the importance of honey bees to the environment. Individuals can dedicate a hive and some have done just that to celebrate or remember a birth, death or marriage as an alternative to more established memorials such as placing a plaque on a park bench. An innovative and different way to remember someone and help nature at the same time
