Honey Bees
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The “Save the Bees” campaign has been raging for quite a while. Of all the important awareness projects going on in the world, this campaign seems a bit frivolous. If we have to worry about refugees, foreign wars, and climate change, should we really be so invested in a campaign about the life of a tiny insect that is the stinging enemy of kids everywhere? Yes. We should.
Believe it or not, you have a bee to thank for every one in three bites of food you eat.
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Just think about the magnitude of that. Most crops (about 70 percent) that are used today require pollination to develop fruits, nuts, and seeds. It is estimated that those crops account for one trillion dollars in annual sales of agriculture products around the globe. If bees were to go extinct, imagine the scale of an issue we would have on our hands. And we do have an issue on our hands.
The most focused on species of bee in this campaign is the honey bee because they are the most widely used in agriculture. Because of the honey bee’s social nature, bee keepers can keep boxes of bees and transport them from one farm community to another during the spring. Yet, honey bee colonies all over the world are experiencing Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a phenomena that results in the entire family of bees to be wiped out. The number of hives in the U.S. has experienced a 60% decline from 1947 to 2008. If you ask a lot of people, the cause of CCD, the cause of honey bee disappearance, is mysteriously unknown.
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The reasons for CCD are not, however, such a mystery. Many reasons have been found to be very possible instigators of CCD including mites, viruses, loss of habitat, and pesticides. Interestingly, in the last four years, the chemical industry has spent $11.2 million on a advertising/PR initiative to tell the public that bee disappearance is not their fault; so, perhaps we already know who’s fault it is. The bottom line is that the two most prominent causes of bee decline, habitat loss and pesticides, are caused by humans.
Just like in a healthy ecosystem, everything is linked and dependent, in a unhealthy environment, all of the problems are tied up together. Bees are dying because large industrial farms are planting large monocrops like wheat and corn that provide little pollen to bees. The bees are literally starving to death. Monocrops are dying because pollinators aren’t around to help them produce fruit.
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The way to help the bees is to restore ecological agriculture to the world. Ecological farming is not a new concept, but is the way farming has been done throughout human history. This practice resists insect damage, not by using pesticides but by avoiding large monocrops that can be wiped out by a single pest and preserving ecosystem diversity. Ecological farming also restores soil nutrients with natural composting systems that helps to avoid soil loss form wind and water erosion. This way chemical fertilizers are not necessary.
Greenpeace is working really hard in advocating for ecological farming. Donate to their cause to help them help the world. Another way you can make a change is by buying organic. This supports farmers who are already using healthy farming practices. If you have a garden, plant flower that support bees like Pale Purple Cornflower or Sunflowers.
Keeping bees alive will keep the human race alive.
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One Response to “Honey Bees”
Thanks for another wonderful and enlightening post. I was somewhat familiar with this movement but I enjoyed learning more about it! I feel like the importance of bees is somewhat unknown, so thank you for drawing attention to this!!