Sometimes, supporting the environment means supporting the very smallest – and most vital – among us. That’s why DTE Energy’s environmental team focused on bees, butterflies, beetles and more for Pollinator Week – June 15-22 – and spent time this summer looking after these important members of the animal kingdom.
Pollinator Week began in 2006 as a way to recognize the importance of pollinators in our world, share information and find new ways to support them throughout the week and all year long.
“Pollinators are essential to our daily life and to our economic system, providing ecological services like pollination that lead to one out of every three bites of food we eat being provided by pollinators,” Kristen LeForce, senior environmental engineer with DTE, said. “But these important creatures are in peril, with an estimated 25% of bumble bees thought to be in serious decline.”
This year, DTE supported these animals by installing bee boxes and bird houses at Warren Service Center, building a planter and adding new plants to the Grand Rapids Wealthy Station’s pollinator garden. The team also installed pollinator boxes at the Muskegon Service Center and planted flowers in front of the Allen Road Service Center.
They didn’t want to stop at plantings and installations, they wanted to share information about pollinators with colleagues and the community alike.
“I wanted to do something new and fun that would bring some attention to our wildlife habitat areas and help people learn about the role that pollinators play in our ecosystems,” said Kim Mobley, senior environmental engineer at DTE.
Mobley organized a geocaching event at several DTE Gas sites across southeast Michigan, encouraging employees to spend some time engaging with the environment and learning about pollinators by going on a modern “treasure hunt” for the golden pollinator, with each cache one golden pollinator card, eight species cards for plants that support pollinators, an extra memento such as native plant seeds and a log. Successful hunters filled out the log, took a memento and added a memento/token for the next geocacher. The first person to find the cache could claim the Golden Pollinator to receive a custom engraved Wildlife Champion tumbler.
“I think that many people don’t understand how important pollinators are in our everyday lives,” said Mobley. “Even with my Environmental background, I learned a great deal while setting up everything. The geocache event made it fun to learn about pollinators and their essential roles.”
The environmental team’s efforts reached beyond DTE sites and employees. During Pollinator Week, a group of environmental experts visited the Boll Family YMCA summer camp in Detroit to spend the morning teaching children all about pollinators. Through a Monarch Migration game and activities like making butterfly masks, learning through Adopt-a-Pollinator worksheets and a gratitude poster, the campers were able to thank the bees for all they do for us.
“I wanted to be there to share the joy of pollinators, with kids who have way more stories about them than you’d think,” said Cassie Lutz, a student co-op with DTE who volunteered at the YMCA. “It’s important to teach kids about pollinators because it can open doors to accessibility for young scientists, widen our eyes to the cohesive relationships that exist in nature and inspire an incredible wonder and curiosity about life – even small life!”
Students had fun coloring, sharing what they knew about pollinators and working their way through the stations of Monarch Migration by flapping their “wings,” crawling through imagined obstacles and more.
It all added up to a week of education and support for pollinators across Michigan.
“It’s so important that DTE supports our pollinators, because of our voice and our commitment to the environment around us,” said Lutz. “Caring for the environment protects our customers, but also our children and family members. There are many Michigan crops that depend on pollination, and so many more gardens with beautiful blooms thanks to our pollinators.”
