Bees can be cute, creepy, scary and dumb but they are actually super important to humanity. As you may know, there is a famous quote by Albert Einstein that demonstrates their importance, “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live.” So are you wondering if this is true? No need to panic, some people say its true but others disagree that it is just a misquote.
There are other animals that pollinate such as butterflies, humming birds and more, but bees are the main pollinators. Did you know 30 percent of the crops we eat are pollinated by bees and that 90 percent of wildflowers are as well? Bees make more than $15 billion a year on crops for the U.S as well as $150 million for honey. They are a huge part of the business market industry.
Without bees, the best pollinators in the world, we wouldn’t have a variety of fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, spices, seeds, nuts and cotton clothes. Lets just say we would be having very boring meals without bees around.
An estimate of 10 million beehives were destroyed by Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Scientists don’t know the direct cause of this disorder but they think that it might be may different factors. Factors such as global warming, pesticide use, habitat loss, poor nutrition and/or parasites.
Now you may be wondering, what is Colony Collapse Disorder? It is a case of absent worker bees that have left behind food, a few nurse bees, immature bees, and the queen in a colony. The bees can not survive under these circumstances and will not make it through the winter.
Hopefully at this point you are thinking, what can I do to help? There are a few things that you can do, for instance you can plant “bee friendly” flowers and bee nice to the bees. I know sometimes they can be scary and annoying, but don’t kill them they won’t harm you. Also, don’t spray pesticides or herbicides in your garden as it can be harmful to the bees.
This article is very interesting and got my attention because I always see commercials about how they need help. To be honest I never really liked bees but they haven’t done anything to me and the impression I got from these articles really seems like they are in danger. They do so much for us and we should return the favour. I have learned what is endangering them and /or what could be the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, plus what I can do to help.
Citations
Main article
“Why We Need Bees: Nature’s Tiny Workers Put Food on Our Tables.” NRDC. NRDC, Mar. 2011. Web. <https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/bees.pdf>.
Additional information
Woody, Todd. “Scientists discover what’s killing the bees and it’s worse than you thought.” Quartz. Quartz, 24 July 2013. Web. <https://qz.com/107970/scientists-discover-whats-killing-the-bees-and-its-worse-than-you-thought/>.
May 18, 2015 Brian Palmer. “Would a World Without Bees Be a World Without Us?” NRDC. NRDC, 15 Dec. 2016. Web. <https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/would-world-without-bees-be-world-without-us>.
“The Disappearing Bees And What You Can Do To Help.” One Green Planet. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/the-disappearing-bees-and-what-you-can-do-to-help/>.
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