Save Our Bees and Save Mankind
It
has become a growing concern that due to the increase in our global population
that we are intruding on the processes of Mother Nature which could effect our
future existence. Thus, it is crucial, that we start thinking of ways to
implement alternative changes that will not alter the cycle of life that is
essential in the way honey- bees give us life. Bees provide us with food with
their pollination capabilities and without them we will soon be without many of
the fruits, vegetables and nuts that are healthy foods for our diet. “This past
winter, nearly one-third of U.S. honeybee colonies died or disappeared”
(science.time.com, Aug.2013). “Einstein predicted that the human race could not
survive without bees and the extinction of man would follow four years after
the extinction of bees” (animal.discovery.com).
“Most
recently, beekeepers have been seeing fewer cases of CCD proper, but honeybees
keep dying and bees keep collapsing. That is bad for our food system-bees add
at least $15 billion in crop value through pollination in the U.S. alone, and
if colony losses keep up, those pollination demands may not be met and valuable
crops like almonds could wither” (science.time.com, Aug.2013). The Natural
Resource Defense Council (NRDC) said the decline in bee population was due to
“colony collapse disorder” (CCD), which is when the bees abandon their hives
including the honey.
“Integrated Pest
Management (IPM) techniques should be used to minimize pesticide use and risk
to bees (NRDC, March 2011). Some of the leading causes to the decline in bee
population is suspected to the growing number of telecommunication towers that
disrupt the way bees communicate with one another in order to get back to their
hives. Another predictor is the growing number of GMO’s that are being used
worldwide and the scientists believe that these pesticides are making the bees
ill and die off. The increase in global warming and the decrease in our
farmlands are deteriorating the healthy habitat that used to exist. We should
be aware of these rapid changes that are altering the way we are currently
living. We need to ask ourselves how are we going to survive without food? What
are the possibilities that the GMO’s making the bees die off will soon affect
our health as well and that the effects are just taking longer to detect within
us? We should be proactive about trying to learn more about what measures we
can take to ensure that we exist in the near future. The NRDC says that more
efforts should be made by the EDA and USDA to do further research on bees and
possibilities of other pollinators to assist our ecosystem.
Bees are an
important element for our striving economy. “U.S. honey bees produce about $150
million in honey annually. The global economic cost of bee decline, including
lower crop yields and increased production costs, has bee estimated at as high
as $5.7 billion per year” (NRDC, March 2011). There are many downfalls for
overlooking the importance of preserving bees so that we can ensure
cross-pollination happens. Thirty percent of our world’s crops and ninety
percent of our wild plants thrive from cross-pollination. Therefore, it is
imperative for policy makers and all the people in the world to take awareness
of the chances that we may be facing the end of mankind if we do not protect
our resources.
Works Cited:
Chavarria, Gabriella, “Pollinator
Conservation,” Renewable Resources
Journal, Winter 1999-2000.
Cox-Foster, DL.,
Conlan, S., Holmes, EC., et al. (2007). A metagenomic survey of microbes in
honey bee colony collapse disorder. Science, 12:318(5848):283-7. Epub
2007.
Hamerschlag, Kari,
and Jonathan Kaplan, “More Integrated
Pest Management, Please: How USDA Could Deliver Greater Environment Benefits
from Farm Bill Conservation Programs, “Natural Resources Defense Council,
February 2007. Available online at http://ww.nrdc.org/health/pesticides/ipm/contents.asp
Web Sources:
“Diminishing Bee Populations”
–by editors of Pure Health MD,
Sass, Jennifer, “Why
We Need Bees: Natures Tiny Workers Put Food on Our Tables, March 2011, www.nrdc.org/policy
Walsh, Brian, “The
Trouble wit Bee Keeping in the Anthropocene”, August 2013, www.science.time.com/2013/08/09/the
-trouble-with-beekeeping-in-the-anthropocene/
