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By: Zane Hammoud Summary: Honey Bees are more important than we think! We have all heard the phrase "Save the Bees" and most of us could agree it is important. We must learn how it is important to us and the earth as a whole. Bees have a huge impact on this planet and our daily lives even though we might not realize it sometimes. We should be thankful for all the unnoticed work honeybees do for us, maybe instead of ignoring it, we should address the problem and hopefully maintain a healthy bee population for the future. Honeybees have been around and serving this earth for over 14 million years. There are 3 common solutions to help us step in the right direction of saving the bees. The first step is to ban the seven most dangerous pesticides. Secondly, protect pollinator health by preserving wild habitat. Lastly, restore ecological agriculture. By doing these steps, we can help restore bee colonies all across the world, not only in the United States. There are many organizations that are taking the next step to help these honeybees in the future. I highly recommend checking out some of their websites to learn more about what they do. Some of these organizations are The Honeybee Conservancy and The Bee Girl Organization. Both companies are based right here inside of the United States and strive to inspire communities to conserve bees, flowers, and food. Their goal is to place one million bees to support communities of need across the United States. Why we should care? I believe we should all care about this issue more because of the consequences. Honeybees alone represent about 80% of all pollination on Earth. Across the whole world, the bee population is in decline.  Photo Credit: Pintrest, Annie Lin Example Article. https://www.livescience.com/honeybees.html This article was very interesting because it explains the practice of beekeeping in the United States, threats to honeybees, and the significance they have on our lives. It tells us that all bees are important to us, different types of bees have different roles as pollinators. It could be specialized pollination that supports biodiversity or large scale agricultural crop pollination that feeds the world. At the end of the day, it is very important to us. There are many threats to the health of a honeybee, The main ones are grouped into what scientists call "the four Ps," which are pesticides, pests, pathogens, and poor nutrition. Science in Action.
Professor Robert E. Page, Jr. is Provost Emeritus and Foundation Chair of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. Robert E. Page is the author of his own book called "The Art of the Bee." In this book, he goes on to say that "Honeybees are both artists and engineers." This saying could not be any more true, He understands the importance that honeybees have on this Earth. As he calls them "environmental artists", bees are “responsible for the brilliantly colored flowers in our landscapes,” and as "environmental engineers", the engineer “the niches of multitudes of plants, animals, and microbes." We all can agree that honeybees have great importance to us and it is worth our efforts to try to protect them as if we are protecting our future.
11 Comments
Michael VanPaepeghem
12/7/2020 12:18:19
This is a really interesting topic, I couldn't agree more with the 'Save the Bees' movement. In terms of restoring ecological agriculture, I've read about farmers in California using the services of bee pollinator companies for almond farms. It's a really cool idea and benefits both farmers and bee populations. Like most conservation efforts the people seem to always be the ones to take action first before any government effort is enacted. I believe with companies like the honeybee conservancy and others they will have a significant impact on increasing bee habitats and populations.
Ben Matthews
12/7/2020 16:01:06
I wholeheartedly agree that we need to work alongside bees as they help whole ecosystems function. Bees allow plants to reproduce through pollination which can form fruit and seeds for a new generation. These plants eventually end up contributing to feeding animals such as ourselves. Therefore, bees play a vital role in keeping an ecosystem healthy and thriving and provide extremely valuable ecosystem services. Not to mention they also make delicious honey!
Elizabeth Carlson
12/7/2020 19:10:16
This article is very interesting I did not know that bees are responsible for 80% of pollination. They are a crucial component of our ecosystem and we must indeed “save the bees”. I also did not know that pesticides play a big roll in the decline of bees. A lot could be done if the U.S. would ban toxic pesticides.
Alex Day
12/8/2020 00:23:13
I hope that we are able to get the bees the help that they need, and it sounds like addressing the 4 Ps: pesticides, pests, pathogens, and poor nutrition is the best way to go about accomplishing it. I did not know that bees were responsible for 80 percent of our global pollination, that Is way higher than I expected. If bees go extinct the agriculture industry is going to “bee” in serious trouble.
Izabela Lewalski
12/8/2020 10:40:50
I knew that bees were important pollinators all around the world, but I did not know that bees are responsible for about 80% of all pollination on earth. I have heard the phrase "save the bees" for a while and I thought the article was very interesting. I think it is important to address the four P's, pesticides, pests, pathogens, and poor nutrition, in order to "save the bees."
Hunter Cook
12/12/2020 11:12:06
When we were signing up for topics, I debated choosing this one and the one that I ended up choosing because I am passionate about saving the bees. I saw a hypothetical picture once that showed the world without bees, and it was apocalyptic. There are a plethora of reasons why people need to cut back on pesticide use and why we need to preserve natural habitats, and the protection of honeybees is one of the most important reasons. Thanks to them, we have colorful flowering plants, and without them, this world would be an ugly place. 12/12/2020 14:27:31
I think most people don’t realize the impact bees really have on earth! I think the three steps mentioned in the article to save the bees are simple and could be done with the help of a lot of people. Even if you hate bees, you can’t deny that they have a positive impact on us and it wouldn’t be good if they weren’t here anymore. 12/16/2020 16:35:59
I'm definitely not a fan of bees, but I do understand how important to the environment they are. However, I didn't know that they're responsible for 80% of pollination. Without them a lot of the plants we have today wouldn't exist. We truly wouldn't be able to survive without them.
Michael Knust
12/19/2020 16:59:45
I love bees and believe that it is extremely important to spread awareness about there importance. I noticed there was a focus on honey bees, but there are thousands of species of bees that are all important. 9% of flowering plants require buzz pollination, which honey bees cannot do.
Lucas LaForte
12/22/2020 04:25:39
Throughout my young adult life, I never understood the importance of bees. To me, they were at the very least a nuisance, and at most, a threat to my health. I’m mildly allergic to bees, so I get quite frightened whenever one is near me. As I grew older and time went on, I had discovered through the media that bees are actually really important to this planet. I can recall being bombarded with headlines about our fate that awaits us if we did not address the issue that was the declining bee population. Since then, I have heard the term “save the bees” quite a lot. The gravity of their ecological importance cannot be understated, but one thing I did not know is that honeybees have been around for over 14 million years. I thought that was a really interesting fact. Their longevity on this planet has made the planet reliant on them. Another interesting fact I found out through your article is that honeybees make up 80% of the pollination on this earth. With that being said, it makes their continued existence here on earth all the more dire. To me, bee keeping seems like and incredibly dangerous and incredibly scary job to have. My heart goes out to all the people in the world that are actually willing to take up a job like that. It is also sad to see that one of the main contributors to the decline in their population is due to pesticides.
Kamaya Hayes
9/15/2021 13:01:46
I found this article interesting because I absolutely love everything about bees. Protecting bee’s should be top priority because without them there’s no us . So just simply appreciating them and not killing them when you see one would go a long way for us. Leave a Reply. |
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