Every third bite of food we eat is bee dependant, that’s over $15 billion worth of crops. But, where are the bees going? Scientists and beekeepers are stumped at the mysterious disappearance of the nation’s bees. There have been other declines in the bee population before now, but they have all been regional as opposed to this widespread absence. The cause is unknown since the bees are not returning to the colony to die. However, scientists have several hypothesis—diminished number of beekeepers (and consequently less bees) but still more crops to pollinate, stress (a little bee has a lot of work, you know!), a virus, pesticides, or mites. Something I never knew is that most of our honey is imported from…guess? Yeah, China—what isn’t these days? It is also sent to us from Argentina. Because of this outsourcing, the US honey market is depressed which has led beekeepers to create “pollinating contracts” where they actually pack up the colonies (hives) into 18 wheeler trucks and travel to agricultural sites. So, we will keep seeing the amber colored Sue Bee bears at Wal-Mart for the same price because of our idiocy in saving a penny while in return endangering the nation’s crops.
So, less doom and gloom and more proactivity always helps me to sleep better. What can we do to help our little fuzzy friends? Start locally by planting bee friendly flowers: lavender, glory bushes, jasmine, rosemary, coreopsis, violets, thyme, wisteria, bluebells, trumpet vines, sunflowers, cosmos, and cone flowers. Another way is to support the beekeepers by buying local honey and bee products (i.e. honeycomb, beeswax candles) and by using natural honey instead of sugar at home and in restaurants. Also, you can EAT ICE CREAM to help keep the buzz alive—twist my arm! Haagen Dazs is donating to the bee cause anytime we buy “bee-dependant flavors” such as almond, fruit, or honey flavored.
Many view the disappearing bees as a sign of things to come. I’m not a bee expert, and maybe I’m being paranoid, but I love fruit more than I love any other food and it makes me scared to think of arriving at a grocery store to find empty produce aisles. Let’s help the little striped guys!
4 comments:
Wow, what an intellectual and enviornmentally friendly post! I watched this segment on 60 minutes last week about how all the world's seeds are being stored in this underground bunker, in case of some huge world catastrophe. So that food would still be able to be planted. It was quite interesting! Poor lil' bee friends!
Zach got Bee Movie for Easter. Is that a good start??
I saw a pbs special on this, and it is crazy how dependent we are on bees. Otherwise, we'd have to eat corn and potatoes instead of the fruit and vegetables that make life EXCITING!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving me a legitimate reason to eat ice cream! And thanks for the flower ideas, I'm getting ready to design some areas and I will most definitely take these species into account.
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