This is not a post defending McDonald’s, believe me. As a kosher woman trying-my-hand as a vegetarian AGAIN, the only time we set foot in McDonald’s is for ice cream cone with friends. And if you do frequent there, this is not a post about Mickey D’s artery clogging, waste-creating, plastic-toy peddling ways. It’s about bees. Turns out, Old McDonald had some bees, too…

This all started with a post I wrote this week for ecorazzi about “Bee Movie” being slapped with a trademark infringement suit by BeeCeuticals, an organic body care line made with holistic honey. I didn’t even write the word “McDonald’s” anywhere in the post. The article did, however, prompt a vehement tirade of comments (ok, one) by a woman who made the jump from “Bee Movie” to Jerry Seinfeld to Jessica Seinfeld to hidden vegetable book to hypocritical McDonald’s promos. How could Seinfeld bee be so heartless?

And here’s my point. I actually received an email from the Director of Corporate Communications and Marketing for Conservation International, a US-based non-profit organization which is committed to “conserve the Earth’s living heritage, our global biodiversity, and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature.” Bees are having a rough time right now. Over the spring and summer, reports of entire colonies of bees disappearing from farms were baffling bee farmers and scientists. Turns out, a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder was taking place, from stresses to the bees such as viruses, pests, and possibly pesticides. This has become a worldwide problem, one in which CI had been fighting for a while.

Conservation International was psyched when McDonald’s approached them about getting the word out about bee conservation. I mean, more kids can recognize the golden arches than most of the US Presidents, right? From a PR standpoint, Conservation International saw this as an amazing opportunity they couldn’t pass up.

Here’s the deal. There are three major components to the CI/McDonald’s partnership:

-A donation from McDonald’s to support two Conservation International projects in South Africa and Mexico to protect bee habitats;

-Direct environmental education through McDonald’s, including those pesky liners on the trays as well as an on-line presence through the “Bee Move” website;

-Promote the “Bee Good to the Planet” Pledge you can join through Conservation International’s very yellow bee website or through HappyMeal.com (did you know this even existed? Oh, and it’s yellow too).

Kids can go online to read about the plight of the honeybee, play some games, and find out valuable bee-themed information. Yes, there are toys, and yes, there is a movie tie-in. If you don’t feel that it’s appropriate for your kids to see something tied in with McDonald’s, The Daily Green has a wonderful article about what kids can do to help “Save the Bees,” including eating locally made honey, putting out water (bees need to drink too!), and being kind to bees, even if they think bees aren’t so kind to them.

Thanks to Jason for his wealth of information!