If someone asked “Are you a bee-lover?” your response would most likely be “no” since they constantly buzz around in the summer, invading your sweet fruits and beverages. Perhaps you have developed a phobia for them, or they simply annoy you. What if I were to tell you that bees help our ecosystem in more ways than just producing honey. According to BBC, bees pollinate one-third of our food supply. Without these black and yellow insects, our economy would be negatively impacted.
Over the past decade, beekeepers have experienced the loss of about 30% of their bee population annually, “substantially more than is considered…sustainable,” (Elizabeth Grossman, Yale Environment 360). The decrease of bee population is primarily due to pesticides used on plants where bees pollinate as well as Colony Collapse Disorder. CCD is the term used to describe the number of worker honey bees disappearing from their hives. Specifically, honey bees are the most important species of bees considering their commercial use. These pollinators play a huge role throughout our agricultural system. Not only do honey bees provide food for us, “they also pollinate grasses that...animals need in order to survive” (Sarah Barns, 2014). Practically, bees partake in your daily meals since “one of every three bites of food eaten worldwide depends on pollinators” (Elizabeth Grossman, Yale Environment 360).
Therefore, in order to prevent the loss of bees that will affect our agriculture and economy, there are things that we individually can do to help prevent the situation from worsening. Ms. Cathy Millard and her husband are year-round beekeepers. When asked about what the public can do to help out the bees, she emphasized on the importance of limiting pesticide use. Millard mentioned an alternative, “As hard as it is to do weeding, it’s a lot safer for our environment to do these things by hand rather than spraying nature with chemicals.” We as individuals can activate our green thumb to maintain healthy bee populations. Acknowledging the impacts bees have to life, are you no\w a bee-lover?