about bees

The Extinction of Bees:

If the honey bee disappears we will lose much of our world food supply.  ​We should help save honey bees because while grains do not require honey bees to flourish, virtually all of our non-grain foods are dependent on honey bee pollination to a large degree. Worldwide, there are 90 different food plants that depend almost exclusively on the honey bee. In the USA honey bees are considered critical pollinators of many fruits, nuts and vegetables. Your own diet will be changed dramatically if we lose our honey bees. 

What is happening to honey bees?
Over the last three years, one in three colonies has died. Scientists are calling the phenomenon Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD. In CCD, cases, all of the bees in a colony abruptly disappear, deserting the hive. In addition, poor nutrition and invasive mites are major problems and are possible contributors to CCD.

Why should consumers care about the health of the honey bee population?
To begin to answer that question, one has to understand the critical role honey bees play in providing food for all of us. One of every three bites the average American eats is directly attributed to honey bee pollination. Honey bees are responsible for the pollination of more than 100 crops, including fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and they provide 80 percent of the country’s pollination services. Without honey bee pollination, one-third of our food supply would be in jeopardy.
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What is the impact of honey bee pollination on the economy?
Honey bees are responsible for the pollination of $15 billion in U.S. agricultural crops each year.

How does a bee pollinate?

The bees leave the hive in search of flowers. They are attracted to blue, purple and yellow flowers that smell sweet. While the bee is gathering sugary liquid nectar from the flowers, a powder called pollen sticks to its legs and body. As the bee visits more flowers, some of the pollen rubs off and helps the flowers produce seeds. New plants or wildflowers grow from the seeds. Learn how to plant a bee-friendly garden from the David Suzuki Foundation.

What Causes Colony Collapse Disorder?

It is now understood that neonicotinoid pesticides are responsible for the drastic decline of pollinators. Other causes of CDC are:
  • Insecticides
  • Malnutrition
  • Lost genetic diversity
  • Antibiotics
  • Virus and fungi
  • Genetically modified crops
  • Electromagnetic radiation
  • Loss of habitat
Many of these causes are also affecting other plants and animal species on this earth. Some of these may even be influencing your own health.

What can you do to help save our pollinators?

1. STOP USING INSECTICIDES!
2. plant a bee-friendly garden
3. create your own bee hotel
4. creating natural habitat gardens
5. make you own bee bath
6. become a beekeeper
7. avoiding seeds coated with insecticides
8. reading the labels on garden compost
9. supporting beekeepers
10. purchasing local honey
11. spreading the word
12. donating to scientific research investigating
Colony Collapse Disorder (see below)

Write to your local council or political representative

Tell them about the need to save our bees, and ask them to stop the use of pesticides in public spaces (from parklands to community planting schemes), to plant more bee-friendly plants, and to make space for wildflowers along verges etc.

Learn More by Watching DOcumentaries

Vanishing of the Bees (2009)
Queen of the Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us (2010)
More Than Honey (2012)

Support Beekeepers

No one is more affected by the honey bee crisis than local beekeepers. Many have lost entire hives to CCD, and their knowledge is a valuable resource for understanding the challenge we face. Here are some ways to support these bee guardians:
  • Don't spray pesticides on your lawn, those harmful chemicals carry and spread past your property lines and onto bees food sources!
  • Buy local honey and hive products such as beeswax candles.
  • Use natural honey as an alternative to processed sugar at home and in restaurants. It’s the “greenest” form of sugar!

Donate to Researchers

One of the keys to saving the honey bees is finding a solution to Colony Collapse Disorder. Pennsylvania State University and University of California at Davis have two of the world´s leading honey bee research facilities.

Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University, College of Agricultural Sciences Penn State is one of the leading universities addressing the many issues facing the beekeeping industry.

The University of California at Davis
The University of California at Davis Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility is the largest and most comprehensive state-supported apiculture facility and staff in North America.

Learn more about honey bees and beekeeping by checking out the following websites:

Sign the Petitions

A prompt to use or modify when submitting your comments: A growing body of science has implicated neonicotinoids (neonics), the world’s most widely used pesticide, as a key factor in recent global bee die-offs. Unfortunately, many of the “bee-friendly” seedlings and plants sold to unsuspecting consumers in your stores have been pre-treated with neonicotinoids at much higher doses than are used on farms, where levels of neonicotinoid use are already raising concerns among beekeepers and scientists.

Because there is no clear labeling to indicate the presence of neonics in nursery plants, customers like me may unknowingly purchase pre-treated “bee-friendly” plants with the intent of providing habitats for bees and other pollinators, but end up causing them harm. I encourage you to discontinue selling all pesticides, soil, seeds and any other lawn maintenance substances that contain neonicotinoids as soon as possible. The lives of humans, animals and insects are at stake.
Over seventy percent of the global food crops are pollinated by bees. Last year, the United States lost a full third of its total honeybee colonies for the fifth year in a row. This means that since 2006, the American bee population has plummeted from 4.5 million honey- producing hives to a scant 860,000. Worse, that number is still dropping.

Rampant pesticide use is a major cause of bee deaths. Express your concern with the detrimental effect of neonicotinoid pesticides on United States bee populations. In the last five years, the bee population in the United States has plunged from an estimated 4.5 million colonies to 860,000. That number is expected to drop by thirty percent each year for the foreseeable future.