There’s silence where buzzing used to be.
One in every three bites of food depends on pollinators — and they’re vanishing. United Earth Fund’s Save the Bees is a student-led rescue and reporting initiative, built with the University of Michigan, turning students into a national force for pollinators.
The sixth mass extinction is happening in real time — and bees are on the front line.
bites of food we eat depend on pollinators — and bees carry most of that responsibility.
of U.S. beekeepers’ colonies are lost every single year, and the losses are accelerating.
mass extinction — a collapse of biodiversity unfolding now. UEF predicted it 25 years ago.
Students don’t just learn about the crisis. They fix it.
Working from a science-based protocol developed with the U-M Dearborn Environmental Interpretive Center, college and high-school Bee-Teams take two kinds of action in their own communities.
Building habitat, hand by hand
Bee-Teams build and install emergency bee hotels, plant no-mow rain gardens of native pollinator food, identify local species, and record population baselines — converting lawns into living habitat.
Reporting that moves people
From a central news hub at the University of Michigan, student journalists turn their field research into PSAs, reports, and stories for print, digital, radio, and television — building real skills while sounding the alarm.
Become a Bee-Team™ reporter
High schools, colleges, and universities are joining the rescue nationwide. Make new friends, gain real experience, and help keep the bees buzzing.
Every rescue funds the next one.
Students rescue bees. The data they collect becomes content. Engaging content brings in support. That support sustains the rescue. Once it’s running, the loop sustains itself.
Students rescue bees
Science-based rescue actions sustain pollinators for the long term.
Data becomes content
Field data turns into PSAs, reports, videos, and stories.
Content brings support
Public awareness of pollinator collapse brings in generous donors.
Support sustains rescue
Caring community members keep the whole initiative alive.
Ecology news, reported by the students living it.
The Endangered Species Report™ is a daily program of endangered-species and ecology news — stories, reporting, and documentary journalism, reported by students — from Bee-Team™ crews in the field to campus newsrooms. The first pilot is already shot by University of Michigan students — your support puts the student-led daily show on the air.
Independent by design: funded by the public, never by corporate or government money — so the reporting always stays factual.
Help put it on the air →Support life as the highest value on earth.
Founded in 1977 and self-funded for decades by journalist and founder Allen Licari, United Earth Fund is a co-founder of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge — North America’s only international wildlife refuge.
In 2001, UEF produced a student and faculty video pilot for the Endangered Species Report that predicted the sixth mass extinction 25 years before mainstream acknowledgment.
“I’m proud to endorse United Earth Fund’s Save the Bees initiative, with my PolliNation bee rescue protocol at the heart of its work. These dedicated experts understand what will be most impactful in saving the bees and educating the public.”
Dr. Terry L. Root
Senior Fellow Emerita, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment; research referenced in Pulitzer Prize–winning climate science.
Melvin Claxton
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist; co-designed UEF’s investigative reporting and student journalism training framework.
Advisory Board
Dr. John Hartig (Detroit River Authority), Rick Simek (U-M Dearborn EIC), and countless students, volunteers & faculty across five decades.
Four ways to make a difference.
Contribute
Save the Bees is funded entirely by the public. A gift at any level meaningful to you helps fund emergency rescue.
Refer
An introduction from you opens doors for colony-saving connections that a cold contact never could.
Advise
Lend your professional expertise. Our advisory board was built by working professionals — there’s room for yours.
Found
Founding opportunities include chapter naming, Executive Producer credits, and Founding Patron roles.
What your gift does
No amount is too small — a modest gift puts real tools in students’ hands.
helps build an emergency bee hotel for a Bee-Team.
helps plant a native rain garden of pollinator food.
helps support a student reporter in the field.
helps equip a new high-school Bee-Team™.
Save the Bees™ fundraising goals
Milestones we’re reaching together — every gift, large or small, gets us there.
Establish the central news hub at the University of Michigan.
Expand the student network to five university chapters.
Reach full-year operations and sustainable buildout.
Every contribution is tax-deductible. No corporate or government money — ever.
A five-decade production legacy. UEF’s catalog spans documentary films, civil-rights interviews, ecological field work — and historic Detroit rock recordings (1967–1970) that still help fund the mission.
Kick Out the Jams →Join Bee-Aware™
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