Ice cream happens to be one of my favorite subjects and when I heard that Haagen-Dazs was coming out with a new flavor this week and launching a campaign to help the environment, I thought I would share the news.

The Oakland-based ice cream company reached into its vintage recipe box to resurrect the new flavor, Vanilla Honey Bee. As you may guess, the new flavor is part of an effort to help bring attention to the plight of the honey bees.

Haagen-Dazs is giving $250,000 to UC Davis' Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility and Pennsylvania State University for research into Colony Collapse Disorder and sustainable pollination. More than 25 percent of the Western honey bee population has vanished and insect scientists still don't completely understand why.

Turns out, honey bees pollinate key ingredients in nearly 40 percent of all Haagen-Dazs ice creams flavors, including strawberry, raspberry and one of my favorites, vanilla swiss almond.

"This actually is the first time we've ever adopted a cause," Diane McIntyre, public relations manager for Haagen-Dazs, told me on the telephone. "We feel really strongly about this. We're dedicated to pure ingredients. And if these ingredients weren't available, we wouldn't be able to make some of our flavors."

McIntyre said a new Web site will be launched today, www.helpthehoneybees.com as part of a campaign to bring the issue to people's attention.

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