STORY IDEA: 14 Year Old Philanthropic Bee Keeper Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman save the planet in comic books and movies Jake Reisdorf, only 14 years old, is the real deal Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman save the planet in comic books and movies. Jake Reisdorf, only 14 years old, is the real deal. Carmel, CA, December 05, 2016 - An eighth-grade honor student at Carmel (Calif.) Middle School,
Reisdorf is an in-the-flesh superhero who, over the past four years, has ambitiously educated himself on the art and science of beekeeping, a hobby he has turned into a thriving family business as the teenaged CEO of Carmel Honey Company. But his quest is more important than tending hives (he has 70) and peddling honey, which he currently sells in four varieties (orange blossom, sage, wildflower, and Meadowfoam) to more than 80 clients, including many of California's best restaurants. Crop pollination by honey bees, he'll explain, is responsible for one-third of all of the food consumed by mankind. The world's honey bee population is dying at an alarming rate. If the bees go away, so will the earth's foliage. If the plants die, scientists say, humans will follow within three years. Jake would prefer to graduate from high school. As if his efforts weren't already noble enough, Reisdorf also has created a nonprofit charity, "Jake Gives Back," from which he generously donates funds from Carmel Honey Company to organizations that promote honey bee research and education efforts. His 2015 beneficiary was the El Nino Bee Lab at the University of California Davis, and the 2014 recipient was the Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Winery. The youngster also speaks on a regular basis to school children, civic groups, even academics and other beekeeping enthusiasts, sharing the staggering wealth of knowledge he has accumulated over the past four years, since he initially became enthralled with honey bees as a 10-year-old. Within a year, Reisdorf knowledgebase had become so deep that he was invited to address a crowd of 500 at the first-ever bee symposium at the University of California-Davis, home of one of the nation's top entomology departments. "I'm constantly meeting beekeepers who have been doing this for years, and their families have been doing it for generations," he said. "I'm always learning new things."