Igor Casapu: The Honey Bee Hero

Igor Casapu is a leading environmental activist aiming to tackle the pressing concern of honey bee extinction through the global hive platform he founded in 2014, BeeRole. This unique platform connects honey aficionados with beekeepers worldwide; additionally, Casapu's platform donates a portion of sales proceeds towards their Two Billion Bees Project. This project's mission is to supply 200,000 beehives to areas with affected honey bee populations, ultimately saving over two billion honey bees!

Casapu's commitment to ecological causes and environmental activism began long before he founded BeeRole. Beginning in childhood, Casapu has always had a connection to environmental causes; he reminisces, "I remember when i was a young child, I competed in The Voice of Nature; it was a kid's contest that I had come across in a newspaper. I remember receiving a book as my winning present. I believe I was around 10 years old at the time." Casapu's commitment to saving our environment is genuine and long-lasting. He describes the natural world as a close friend and remarks on the pain he feels watching humans destroy so much of the natural world.

The destruction of our environment, and the extinction of the honey bees, will have dire consequences for societies all around the globe. Casapu warns, "Living on a planet where everything is interconnected, it is easy to understand why losing our pollinators could lead to disastrous consequences." Casapu points to the rapidly declining honey bee populations as a critical environmental disaster that grows worse with every day of inaction from corporations and consumers. "Business is no longer about finding ways to cut costs and profit off the destruction of the natural world," he explains, "we have to take action now in order to save the one world we have; this is why I so firmly believe in what we are doing at BeeRole today."

Casapu's commitment to BeeRoles cause is rooted in the science behind vegetation pollination and habitat availability. Honey bees are critical pollinator species in the vast majority of ecosystems; they are responsible for pollinating 70 out of every 100 of the crop species that feed 90 % of the world. Ultimately, the honey bees are responsible for over 30 billion USD of crop profits annually.

However, crops will not be the only organisms in danger if we fail to address the declining honey bee population. In addition to losing the crops that feed humans, we will also lose the vegetation that sustains animals, both domesticated and wild. Honey bee extinction would cause numerous profound ecosystem disruptions; with situations like this, the entire food chain will be affected, and whole ecosystems can collapse as a result.

Through his efforts with the BeeRole platform and Two Billion Bees Project, Casapu aims to unite people in addressing the pressing concerns surrounding honey bee extinction. Founding BeeRole has been a dream of Casapus for a long time; he shares, "BeeRole is an long time obsession of mine to unify all people and inspire them to take action," he goes on to describe, "for me, it is a dream that motivates me to wake up everyday and inspire people to start taking action for the causes that are so near to my heart."

BeeRole has not always been the bustling hive it is today; the company broke into the honey industry around seven years ago. At that point, the main focus of BeeRole was focused on obtaining, packaging, and distributing honey; now, they have grown into one of the largest honey merchants in the area. While the company grew, Casapu continued to ensure that profits went to further his goal of honey bee conservation. At this point, the BeeRole hive has evolved into what Casapu describes as "a platform for taking action for sake of social causes."

Through the BeeRole hive, beekeepers are able to not only connect with a vast client base, but they are also able to unite with fellow beekeepers! Casapu's intentions were unmistakable as he described, "For us it is important that the beekeepers are generally supported. We want to provide them with resources to expand their bee families and produce more honey. When the number of bees in any given area grows more and more plants will be pollinated leading to a healthier ecosystem overall."

For consumers and honey lovers, BeeRole provides the opportunity to buy products from a fair trade market and support small businesses while tasting honey from Zimbabwe to Nepal to Mexico. Any patrons of BeeRole who decide to donate to the Two Billion Bees project are able to track the progress of the project, and their contribution, in real-time. Casapu designed this system so that "anyone who buys honey from our online platform, or donates to the Two Billion Bees project can track the number of bees that are saved each and every day."

Not just a honey company, social media platform, non-profit, or marketplace, BeeRole is everything we need to save the honey bees.