A new limited edition range of bikes from the Swedish manufacturer, Cake, looks to raise awareness of global population decline of the bees, and funds for the World Bee Project.
Cake’s new range is called “Flower Power”, and adds a whole range of colour to the generally greyscale range from the Swedish brand.
There are the following colours to choose from: “basil”, “cornflower”, “hibiscus”, “lavender”, “marigold”, “rose”, and “sunflower”. These colours are available on the following models: Kalk&, Kalk Ink&, Kalk OR, Kalk Ink, Kalk OR Race, and Kalk Ink Race.
The Kalk also has an “AP” model in standard colours that is “Engineered for wildlife conservation areas,” according to Cake.
But this Flower Power range is dedicated to something more specific. Unsurprisingly, it is not some of the more standout designs which Valentino Rossi - and his motorcycles - wore in the earlier days of his racing career. Instead, it is dedicated to bees.
Bees are an essential part of the global ecosystem because of their role in pollination. Without bees and other pollinators, whole species of plants will become extinct, and with them the animals that use them for food, to hunt, to live, to reproduce; and with them the animals which use those animals as a source of food, and so on.
Humanity has been shown to have increased the rate at which bees are going extinct. The website, DIY Garden, has compiled a list of statistics regarding bees. These include that, since 1900, the UK has lost 13 bee species (Friends of the Earth); that there are no laws to protect bees from extinction yet 35 species are currently at risk of extinction (Friends of the Earth); and that humans have been found to be responsible for an increase in extinction rates for bees of between 100-times and 1000-times (FAO).
“The number of insects have decreased dramatically over the past 30 years, jeopardising the entire ecosystem,” Cake says on its webpage for the Flower Power initiative. “Some of the insecticides being used not only kill unwanted insects but all insect life that is exposed to the chemicals,” it continues.
“The Flower Power initiative is a small contribution sharing the painful reality of our fragile ecosystem, where everyone is obligated to change and take action,” said Stefan Ytterborn, Founder and CEO of Cake.
Sabiha Rumani Malik, Founder and Executive President, The World Bee Project CIC, said: “All our futures depend on pollinators and flowers, but our greatest problem today is collective action. Change cannot happen without people.
“We thank Cake for inspiring collective action with their flower inspired electric motorcycles that combine excitement with responsibility.”
The World Bee Project (WBP) aims to bring environmental conversations deeper into the centre of political conversations, so that more is done to protect both the planet, by extension, the life which inhabits it. It aims to do this by using artificial intelligence and data gathered from bees to develop solutions to declining global biodiversity.
Cake’s partnership with the World Bee Project will see five per cent of the income from each sale of a Flower Power bike be donated to the WBP.
