BEE the Answer

b

the answer the world-renowned expert on

honeybees

winnie the pooh once said the only

reason for being a bee

that i know of is to make honey and

the only reason for making honey is so i

can eat it that pretty much summed up my

attitude about bees until

earlier this year when my dad announced

he was going to become a beekeeper

he thought it’d be a great way to spend

time outdoors

i’m not much of a nature girl so dad

passed over me

to recruit my little sister and she

became a special beekeeping

protege

when it came time for the first honey

harvest dan and sister needed a

photographer

to record the event i stood near the

hive

in my shorts and t-shirt snapping shots

and worrying about getting stung

as my dad and sister moved around safely

in their protective beekeeping outfits

while the bees were buzzing all around

me it dawned on me

beekeeping is something really great for

the environment

next thing that you know i’m watching

videos about bees

honeybees are so important that they are

the second most studied creature

next to human beings i discovered

something else

something really frightening bees are

endangered and headed for extinction

if bees die off they’ll be a huge

problem for us

whether he knows it or not my dad is an

environmental activist

saving the world a little bit at a time

one hive at a time i

wanted in i wanted to be part of the

solution

next thing i know i’m out there with him

wearing my fashionable beekeeper suit

and loving it

my family suggested that we start our

own honey company

maybe next year for now we just harvest

our liquid gold

and give it away to friends and family

these

are the buzzing backbone of our

agricultural industry

according to the us department of

agriculture

honeybees pollinate 80 percent of the

united states crops

over 20 billion dollars worth of crops

each year

however in the past decade bees have

been dying off at an alarming rate

we have lost almost three million bee

honey colonies

in the year in the us alone

we are starving them choking off their

environment

poisoning them with our chemicals yet we

still expect them to keep us stocked

with honey

and pollinate our crops why is this

happening

because of the choices we make every day

for example farmers and gardeners use a

pesticide that contains neonicanoids

a chemical that imitates nicotine

these chemicals interfere with the bees

reproductive system

and deplete their population ironically

something intended to help plants grow

is devastating our most essential

partner in the plant biosystem

honeybees

albert einstein said if bees disappear

off the surface of the globe

then man will only have four years of

life left

no more bees no more pollination

no more plants no more animals

no more man well

we’re on the way to einstein predicted

without honey bees our lives would be

very different

we would not have enough food to eat

pollinating bees are responsible for

three out of every 10 bites we eat

we may not have comfortable clothes to

wear bees are responsible for the kind

underwear socks pants and shirts we wear

and we wouldn’t be able to start our day

off with our morning coffee

we all know how terrible that would be

but that’s just the tip of the iceberg

if bees disappear the cost of food and

clothing will skyrocket

and our standard of living will plummet

the world’s fresh food and vegetable

supply when he immediately

dropped by half dairy production would

dry up because there would not be enough

food or alfalfa to feed the cows

supermarket shells become bare millions

around the world

would die from famine and starvation

while bees are not going to disappear

tomorrow unless things change

they’ll be gone by the time i’m 70 years

old

if we don’t want our kids and grandkids

eating artificially produced foods

or in synthetic clothing or becoming

more dependent on dirty fossil fuels to

survive

we need to do something about it now

and we can do plenty we can choose to be

green we can find ways

to promote more efficiently live cleaner

and produce waste piling up on our

planet

it’ll just take a little bit of

consistent effort and action

from each one of us to create a massive

impact

each one of us working together can save

our planet

small consistent steps can make a

difference

an average worker bee only makes about 1

12 of a teaspoon of honey in its

lifetime

not much but a colony of bees working

together

can fill a hive with hundreds of pounds

of honey

the honeybee is not born knowing how to

make honey

the younger bees are taught by the more

experienced ones

that’s what it’s like for us as well but

maybe when it comes to saving

our planet saving the bees preserving

our future

it will take the younger bees i mean

humans

to teach our grandparents and parents so

here are some ways

you and i can make a difference for the

bees the environment

and our survival we can create honeybee

friendly habitats in our yards

parks and other outdoor spaces by

planting flowers

herbs and vegetables that attract them

we can encourage urban beekeepers like

my dad and so many others

by celebrating their efforts buying

their honey and welcoming their worker

bees as they visit our yards

we can avoid using poison on our yards

and use organic or natural methods

to promote plant growth and unwanted

pests

when we shop or eat out we can select

foods that are beef friendly

like vegetables grains and fruit fruits

foods that are locally grown so they

don’t require burning fossil fuels

to bring them to our markets or tables

we can make better choices in our

schools to reduce our environmental

footprint

like we’ve done here at walcott our

school was awarded the us department of

green

education ribbon for our environmental

efforts

we can strive to do better to reduce the

over two tons of waste

our school generates per year we can

even a hive or two on the top of our

school’s roof

we can be mindful that the bees are our

friends and they need protection from

invasive species

such as the murder hornets or invasive

plants such as kudzu

bees create much more than they require

enough for every hungry bear

or sweet tooth human to share bees don’t

produce waste products that

decades decompose or require landfills

to bury

they are more productive than required

and work together for the common good

of the hive bees might be small insects

but their ability should not be

underestimated

they could teach us much from their

system of organization

to their ability to live in harmony with

their environment

saint john christom a respected thinker

of the early eastern orthodox church

wisely concluded the bee is more honor

than other animals

not because she labors but because she

labors

for others

and by saving the bees we’ll be saving

our own future

making our world a little sweeter as

sweet

as honey thank you for being the answer