What's All the Buzz About?

A world without the buzz of bees would really sting. The humble bumblebee- the same ones we swat and scream at when they fly our way, play a crucial role in each of our daily lives! We actually have a bee to thank for every 1 in 3 bites of food that we eat every single day. Bees work tirelessly, sometimes up to 12 hours a day foraging nectar and transporting pollen between plants to produce essential foods in our diet like fruits, vegetables, nuts, chocolate and even coffee! Bee populations have been drastically declining more and more each year since the 1980s. If we lose our precious pollinators to extinction, we lose up to 90% of the world’s nutrition. It’s time for us humans to beehive!

Bees and flowers have a very mutual relationship; flowers provide worker bees with nectar and pollen to feed their entire colonies while other bees spread the pollen from flower to flower so they can continue the cycle and produce more seeds! With the help of the wind, bees pollinate up to 300 million plants a day. For all of you fussy eaters, it might be good news to know that the lack of bees in the world means lack of broccoli but how would the shortage of honey, tree fruits, berries, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, almonds, cashews, coconuts, avocados, vanilla, chocolate, pumpkins or grapes (including wine too) make you feel? There are way more foods, beverages, fibres, spices, and medicines that are all reliant on bees. If they didn’t pollinate, the world would suffer a massive change in the environment. Any plants that need bees for pollination would die and it would begin traumatic ripple effect in the ecosystem all the way back to humans. Our economy and agriculture would suffer as the honey bee contributes $4.6 billion to the industry every year! Farmers would soon have to convert their fields of produce to wheat. Our diets would consist of lots of grains, like rice and corn. Store owners would be explaining to customers why the cost of an apple has tripled but I’m sure by that point in time, with the absence of a species we were once very dependent on officially extinct, a $15 apple would be the least of our worries.

We are down to our last 2 billion bees on earth. Beekeepers continue to report that millions of bees are disappearing from their colonies annually and don’t ever return. Researchers have found that the main reasons for their population loss are parasites, climate change, loss of plants from landscaping or farming, and pesticides. In the 1950s, the Varroa mite started making its way across the globe, since then it has been attaching itself and its larvae to the body of bumblebees and feeding off their blood. Climate change has affected bees by temperatures rising to unsustainable living conditions for them, this is causing them to migrate to new areas where they are eventually affected by pesticides and lack of land due to human destruction. Humans are responsible for two of the most fatal causes; habitat loss and pesticides. Agricultural pesticides, known as "neonicotinoids", are responsible for poisoning plants with harmful chemicals making them toxic to pollinators. Neonicotinoids cause bees and other insects to experience paralysis whenever they feed on the pollen or nectar of the affected plants. Pesticides kill over 1000 bees per day in a single colony. Bee habitats will continue to shrink more and more each year while industries continue to destroy nature by replacing forests with factories and grasslands with monoculture farming. There are ways for even the most urban cities to replenish bee populations. They need our help!

How can we help save the bees? If you find a colony on your property, contact a bee rescue or local beekeeper that may be willing to remove them for you, not pest control! If one approaches you, remain calm until they realize you're not a flower and fly another route- don't squish them! If you have space for gardening, do your research and plant bee-friendly flowers! The popular brand of cereal known as “Cheerios” has been committed to helping stabilize the bee populations by offering a Beekeeper program where citizens across North America can fill out a small bit of their information online in exchange for a free packet of bee-friendly sunflower seeds they can plant anywhere at home. Last year alone, Cheerios has planted over 1.7 billion seeds of pollinator plants. Their goal by 2021 is to have 3,300 acres of nectar and pollen-rich flowers that will give bees and other pollinators the nutrients they need to stay strong. While working with Xerces Society, an invertebrate conservation non-profit organization, they have made lots of engagement with oat farmers to get more beneficial habitat planted on their lands. This work is helping change the landscape for bees in major oat-growing regions around Canada and the United States! Humans need to continue practising ecological farming to help stabilize human food production, along with resisting insect damage by avoiding large mono-crops and preserving system diversity without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Ecological farming will help restore bee populations leading to improved crop yields by taking advantage of the natural services of the ecosystem. A change in agriculture would be revolutionary for farmers and would promote healthy diets worldwide! It’s important that as humans we use our voices to protect those in need, no matter how tiny these critters are! It takes only a few minutes of your day to research and sign petitions to get harmful pesticides banned, it’s finally time we make the buzz about them!

There is no better time than now to create a greener world. With the Coronavirus pandemic currently keeping people indoors, Earth has shown signs of healing from the lack of human activity outdoors. Shutting down factories, cancelling public events and interrupting all international travel has caused a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions-the key factor in global warming! In simple terms, the air has been getting cleaner! It is amazing how fast nature can heal given the right circumstances! However, with coronavirus also creating fear, many people have resorted to single-use PPE items to approach public settings causing unnecessary pollution to intensify; non-recyclable masks and gloves are flooding our streets, creating a delay in the process of healing our planet! If we can’t take care of nature, then we truly won't be able to take care of ourselves.

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live."

-Albert Einstein

Bees are only one of the many species we will lose to extinction if we don't make changes to our current way of life. They are so much more than an annoyance. They do so much more for our planet than just produce honey. Without bees, both our gardens and our plates would be empty and colour-less. Through flight, sunlight, passion and productivity, bees have taught us so much about nourishment... It’s time we stop minding our own beeswax before we only hear the echoes of a buzz from the past.

Below I have listed the Cheerios website so you can help me #BringBackTheBees!

(The Beekeeper program ends for the season on August 8th, 2020 so sign up and get your free sunflower seeds as soon as possible!)