Help! Stop The Honeybee Extinction.

by Dawn Pugh

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Help! Stop The Honeybee Extinction.

A bee drinking water. From the apiary of Mr.
Image via Wikipedia

Should we be really worried about the death of bees?

Einstein once remarked that -  “If bees were to disappear, man would only have a few years to live.”

In 1950’s there were 500,000 beekeepers in the US. Now there is less than 1600.

75% of beekeepers make their money by taking their bee’s to California to pollinate almond trees.

In 2007 just before the almond tree pollination – 20 billion bees disappeared. Leaving many beekeepers becoming bankrupt.

Almond trees are totally dependant on Bees.

In recent years honeybee populations across the continent have plummeted by as much as 70%, and biologists are still scratching their heads as to why and what to do about the problem which they have termed “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD).

Many believe that our increasing use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, which honeybees ingest during their daily pollination rounds, are largely to blame.

Bee populations may also be vulnerable to other factors, such as the recent increase in atmospheric electromagnetic radiation as a result of growing numbers of cell phones and wireless communication towers.

Biologists also wonder if global warming may be exaggerating the growth rates of pathogens such as the mites, viruses and fungi that are known to take their toll on bee colonies.

A recent gathering of leading bee biologists yielded no consensus, but most agree that a combination of factors is most likely to blame.

According to Jerry Hayes, apiary inspection chief with the state’s Division of Plant Industry – If honeybees ceased to exist, two-thirds of the citrus, all of the watermelons, the blueberries, strawberries, pecans and beans would disappear.

The bee’s role is very important within the various life cycles of different species. Without bees, there would be no honey, but more importantly, certain plants would not be able to reproduce and would thus become extinct. In turn, this would lead to the disappearance of certain animal species.

Research shows that bee’s made their first appearance on earth 80 million years ago, the bee has accompanied the human journey. In the earliest cave paintings there are images of men harvesting honey. In hieroglyphics, representations of ancient Mesopotamia and China in the first centuries of recorded time, honey harvesting has been depicted. The Promised Land is the land of milk and honey. The bee’s product seems to have been the first sweetness in mankind’s tough early days. It seems that even now, in the early 21st century, mankind can’t do without the bee.

Let me ask you again -“Should we be really worried about the death of bees?”

So what can we do to help this travisty? – I hear you say.

Becoming a honey beekeeper is a great way to help, but there are other simple steps that everyone can take.

Here are 5 easier ways:

  1. Stop using chemical insecticides.  Rather than buying the chemical products available from most garden centers, try using more natural ways of ridding your garden of pests.  Try also to encourage your neighbours to do the same and work together.
  2. Get a bird bath.  It may surprise you but the bees get thirsty too.  Fill a birdbath or similar container with water, especially on hot days.  It doesn’t matter if the water gets muddy as this will provide the bees with much needed nutrients.  It’s a good idea to keep it shallow or put a few pebbles in the container to make it easier for the bees to access the water.
  3. Keep your garden (a little bit) wild.  It’s a good idea to leave an area of your garden a bit untidy with a few wild flowers growing, and some dense foliage.  These days too many of us are paving over our gardens, or installing decking.  This may look nice to us but doesn’t provide food or shelter to wildlife.
  4. Lots of variety in your garden.  It is believed that one of the reasons for the disappearing bees is the lack of variety in their diet – vast fields of one crop for example.  Like any animal, bees need a variety of nutrients to function correctly, so vary your plants and also remember the winter months.
  5. Plant wild flowers secretly.  This may sound slightly mad, but why not buy a packet or two of wild flower seed and scatter it in areas of local wasteland to provide more areas of food for the local bees.  Just be careful of the spot you choose – don’t select an area where the seed could blow into local gardens, or spoil a local flower display.

These are just a few of the ways in which you can start keeping honey bees from extinction.  If everyone works together to tackle this problem we can still save the honey bee, if not, we may just find out whether Einstein was right.

Thanks to Jane Vaughan.

Dawn Pugh Expert therapist.

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Tagged as: Agriculture, animals extinction, Bee, Beekeeper, California, Colony collapse disorder, extinct, extinction, extinction species, extinctions, Honey, Honey bee, honeybee, honeybees, Pollination, species extinction

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