Breakfast with Bees

Yum – bee pollination gives us much of our fruit, nuts, and vegetables.  But look what would happen if there were no bees in the world. Dry toast for breakfast! Over 75% of the world’s most important food crops need pollinators. If bees are toast, so are we…

To Bee or Not to Bee? A world without bees could be a world without humans. All over the world honey bees are dying: about a third of U.S. hives yearly since 2004; up to 50% of British and Japanese hives. Humans are probably to blame: through heavy use of pesticides, spreading viruses,  poor bee diet (monocultures), destroying habitats, and climate change. Maybe a combination of these has stressed and weakened bees.

What You Can Do: look after all pollinators – honeybees, bumblebees and native bees:

• Plant trees, bushes, flowers. Bees love lavender, heather, thyme, and Californian lilac.
• Leave some of your lawn to grow wild- it provides shelter, attracts helpful bugs, and saves petrol!
• Avoid using chemicals on plants, in the air, and in water sources (bees drink too).

Reading:

A superb book on the crisis is Fruitless Fall by Rowan Jacobsen.

Recent articles on the Bee Crisis (New Internationalist)

Last Flight of the Honeybees by Alison Benjamin – Guardian.

Plan Bee – great campaign to save bees