Porsche Relocating 1.5 Million Bees to Leipzig Factory Grounds
That buzzing you hear might not be the sweet sound of a high-revving flat-six, but 1.5 million honey bees hard at work for Porsche.
Porsche recently relocated 1.5 million endangered honey bees to an undeveloped patch of land at their Leipzig factory. If you haven't heard, bee populations are in trouble around the world. And though they may occasionally sting us, we really need them to do their whole pollination thing; bees are beyond vital keeping most things alive on our planet.
The conundrum for the automotive enthusiast (which, if you are reading this at The Drive, most likely includes you) is that our beloved car is not exactly environmentally friendly. Even with electric cars, hybrids, alternative fuels, new emissions-scrubbing technologies, and everything "green" you can throw at a vehicle, your car is a rolling EPA Superfund site. If we want to continue to have nice things, we need to make sure we are doing what we can to help clean up the world. Which is what Porsche is doing with a frightening amount of bees.
According to a press release, Porsche giving a new home to 25 colonies of bees in off-road area of their Leipzig factory property. Porsche has used the land as a conservation area since they acquired it in 2000. The former military site has been completely transformed back to it's natural state, and is home to many types of critters including birds, frogs, bats, insects, rabbits, wild horses, and 75 aurochs.
The bees can now do all their bee things without disturbing too many people. Plus, Porsche is going to harvest their honey, which will be used for "employee catering" at the Leipzig plant. If my German translation is correct, "employee catering" is a nice way of saying cafeteria. Though, this being Porsche, it's probably the nicest lunch room you'll ever see. Customers visiting the Leipzig plant may also get a chance to buy some Porsche honey later this year.
I can't even imagine what Porsche honey would cost. Given that you can buy 100 Porsche 911-shaped paper clips for $20 versus 5000 regular paperclips for $17 on Amazon, I would guess the honey isn't going to be cheap. But I bet it'll be some of the best honey you'll ever have.
Included in the press release was this great info-graphic about the Porsche bees.
You also might be asking "What exactly is an auroch?" Answer: it's an extinct cattle that apparently Porsche (or someone) brought back to life. (No really, it was extinct.) Porsche is doing their part to be good environmental stewards, as should we all. So get out there, recycle some stuff, save a bee, and let some extinct mammal roam around in your backyard.
