If you’ve heard that bee populations are on the decline, you’re not wrong. In recent years, honey bees and bumble bees have had to struggle against lethal pesticide use on plants, global warming, habitat destruction and a recent phenomenon entitled colony collapse disorder. Bizarrely, when this phenomenon occurs, a good majority of worker bees in a single colony never return to the hive, abandoning their queen, a handful of nurse bees and all of the still-developing bees.
The bodies of the worker bees are never, ever found, which leads to beekeepers believing new chemicals are causing the worker bees to get lost on their way home, dying away from their colony. In an interview with EarthJustice, one beekeeper by the name of Jeff Anderson calls Colony Collapse Disorder, “the Perfect Crime -- no bodies, no murder weapon no bees.”
Despite the fact that no bee species is officially endangered or extinct, we have long since reached the point to where we need to worry. In late February 2016, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released a report assessing pollinator populations world-wide and had this to say: “A growing number of pollinator species worldwide are being driven toward extinction by diverse pressures, many of them human-made, threatening millions of livelihoods and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of food supplies, according to the first global assessment of pollinators.”
Notably, this assessment includes more than just honey bees, but beetles, butterflies, wasps, moths, various birds, etc. that function as pollinators, but it’s message is clear.
Approximately 75 percent of global crop production depends on pollinators, according to the IPBES. Bees pollinate more than $15 billion in U.S. crops per year, says the Natural Resources Defense Council.
These numbers are alarming, but we can combat the bee population decline. Honey bees love black-eyed Susans, sunflowers, cosmos, marigolds, bluebells, lavender, mint, rosemary, thyme, poppies, coneflowers and so many more flowers. Make a flourishing garden with these plants in abundance. You can even add a decorative touch with a bee house -- homemade or not.
There are countless organizations that accept donations that enable their volunteers and employees to continue fighting hard for the livelihood of bees as well.
Lastly, there’s a cute company called The Bumbly Bee Co. which makes individual, homemade bracelets that are modeled after food sources for bees. The company is founded by a single individual who became inspired after an AP Environmental Science project taught them about the honey bee species decline.
These homemade accessories are all ball bracelets, but come in different colors. There’s Thyme, which is half jade-colored and half marble-white; Rose, which is a beautiful half-pink and half-white; Bluebell, which showcases a half darling baby blue color and a half marble-white; Snapdragon, which is half bright white and half-black and, lastly, Sunflower, which is half an opaque white with a greenish tint and half-black. You can see all of these bracelets and purchase one for $15 on the Bumbly Bee Co.’s website.
Ten percent of all proceeds go straight to GreenPeace, which is the largest environmental organization in the world. They fight for environmental justice, world peace and the rights of humans and every other creature found on Earth.
Bee populations are on the decline and whichever action you take, it’s still a step toward helping our pollinators stay alive.
