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