Photo by Mark Schultz

Matthew Willey, a 46-year-old muralist, has made it his goal to paint 50,000 honeybees on murals around the world, according to an article this summer in the Raleigh, N.C., News&Observer. Willey wants to highlight the dangers that bees are facing in today’s environment.

Correspondent Steve Bydal accompanied Willey to Estes Hills elementary school in Chapel Hill, N.C., as he started painting the bees on an exterior wall of the school’s gym. Estes Hills has had a pollinator garden since 2014 that is taken care of by the students and teachers, according to Bydal.

Willey plans to do murals in Durham, N.C., British Columbia, Nepal and Australia. He chose the number 50,000 because it represents the number of bees often found in a bee hive. Read more about him here.