I haven’t been following country music gossip lately, but I do remember hearing something about Blake Shelton falling out of favor. No worries, this article isn’t about him, it’s about honey bees, and who doesn’t like bees? Probably a lot of you. Love them or hate them, it’s in our best interest to keep them around. The problem? They might not be around for much longer.

Honey bees are disappearing around the globe, and we’re not totally sure why. In honor of National Honey month, I’m raising awareness for honey bees everywhere. I could go on forever about the benefits of honey, but bees do much more than that. They’re also our best pollinators.

Bees do much more than provide us with a natural sweetener. They pollinate 70% of crop species around the world, according to BBC. In a world without bees, it would be a struggle to grow as many fruits and vegetables as we do now. A bee extinction wouldn’t just effect the produce section at the supermarket, it would also make it more difficult for animals that eat the foods bees pollinate to survive. If you remember elementary school science, the lower something is on the food chain, the more we need it around. Bees are very low on the world food chain.

No one knows for sure why bee populations are declining. It’s probably a mix of things. First of all, there’s a parasite going around that gets in the bees’ blood stream and kills them. That alone won’t cause a bee apocalypse. Meadows are disappearing, climate change is effecting migration patterns, and the growing use of pesticides are all harmful to bee populations. While it’s hard to gauge how much humans are to blame, there are certainly ways we can help.

If you’re lucky enough to be a college student with an outdoor space or window box, plant things. Not only will it make your dorm or apartment homier, it’s for a good cause. Wildlife service’s suggests planting collections of diverse, colorful, native flowering plants that bloom at different times throughout the year. If you plant, try not to use pesticides. If you do, avoid doing so when plants are in bloom because you could accidently poison your bees.

Obviously, this isn’t an option for everyone. If you don’t have the space to keep plants, or maybe you have the opposite of a green thumb, buying local honey and produce can help sustain your local bee population. The more you buy, the more they have to plant, and the more the bees have available to pollinate to get their food.

If all else fails there’s always the choice of donating to foundations that can do the work for you. You can go here to donate to Pollinator Partnership, the world’s largest nonprofit dedicated to protecting pollinators, or you can find your own. These are just a few ways to support bees. If you’re still not satisfied, keep doing research.