SAVE.
THE.
BEES.
Starting in 2006, the honeybee population started to decline drastically. We need these bees! They help pollinate 80% of food crops and are responsible for $40 billion worth of our national produce each year. If we just sit here and do nothing while the bees slowly slip into extinction, we’ll feel regretful forever! Honeybees are wonderful creatures that help us in our everyday life and we need to start appreciating them for it. Without bees, we would lose one-third of the food we eat right now. The extinction of honeybees will not only lead to trouble in the agriculture industry but also the diary and cotton industry. Honeybees affect more things than we can imagine. These little guys do so much for not only us humans, but mother nature as well and it’s about time they get some recognition! Now, when people hear about this, they don’t usually like to pay attention because they don’t like bees and think they’ll sting you. I do understand that most people will confuse bees with wasps or hornets, but let me tell you, THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING!
Know the difference between honeybees and wasps/hornets! Honeybees are quite small (2.54cm) and are hairy with either black or brown bodies and yellow or orange stripes. Wasps are narrow with shiny and smooth skin (have no hair? Get out of there!) and bright black and yellow patterns. Honeybees will not attack you unless you provoke them and will die after they sting once. If you come across a honeybee, don’t be scared, it obviously doesn’t want to sting you and practically commit suicide, just don’t make it angry! Wasps/hornets, on the other hand, are far more aggressive and can sting you multiple times. Most people think that they’re allergic to bees because of the reaction they have after getting stung, but it’s better to go to a doctor to get an allergy test and see if you’re really allergic to bees. The swelling of the place of the sting is pretty normal, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have allergies. That would be a more serious issue and would most likely require medical treatment. Watch yourself before killing what you think might be dangerous when it could be an innocent little bee! Don’t add to their disappearance! And even if you are allergic to bees, it doesn’t mean you can’t still support them! Visit this site to sign a petition banning bee-killing pesticides and hopefully raise enough awareness so that the government and big companies will notice and take action!
Look that this! LOOK AT THIS!!! Is this how you want our grocery stores to be like? Bees are vital to our everyday existence. We have got to step in and take a stand! Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is one reason of the bee disappearance. CCD is when all the worker bees vanish, leaving their queen and larvae. Scientists still have no clue what causes this. There are also three other theories as to why the honeybees have been dying so rapidly.
1) Parasites and pathogens: Varroa mites are tiny parasites that infest beehives. They suck the fluids from the bees’ bodies, leaving them weak and with a bad immune system. They also leave big wounds in the bees so that it’s easy for viruses to enter the body. Those two things combined together create a lethal effect for the bees. 🙁
2) Bad nutrition: Some bees don’t have access to a variety of pollen. They need nutritious pollen to keep energised and healthy but they can’t always find it. Bees need a diversity of plants and the increasing number of one-crop farmland aren’t helping. If bees can’t get the nutrition they need, it will be difficult for them to survive. 🙁
3) Pesticide: Pesticides are obviously toxic and is meant for the use of keeping away nasty pests from crops. But not only does it stop pests, it has grown to affect many different species, bees being one of them. Neonics is a type of pesticide that is applied onto the seed instead of being sprayed straight onto the crops. Since the neonics is in the seed, as the plant grows, the pesticide incorporates itself into the plant’s tissues so when the bees come to pollinate, they get affected by the neonics. It can make the bees sensitive to bad weather and cause poor sense of direction. 🙁
I can’t even begin to imagine how we would live without honeybees!
What you can do to help SAVE THE BEES!
-Plant bee-friendly plants in your garden!
-Don’t use chemicals/pesticides on your plants!
-Put a bucket of fresh water in your garden for the bees!
-Support your local beekeeper!
For more ways, visit this and this!
HELP US
SAVE
THE
BEES!!!!!!
