Before you take a sip of your almond milk or a bite out of your apple, you may want to thank a bee for it. One in three bites of the food we eat is due to bees pollinating plants.
Bees are important for a number of reasons; they help maintain healthy ecosystems and they provide food for animals and humans through pollination. These pollinators help to fertilize plants which results in the formation of new seed growth, which produces more food for us to eat.
Save on Energy estimates bees pollinate 1/3 of the food we eat ranging from fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and seeds. According to the HoneyBee Conservancy, without bees, we would lose 100% of almond crops, 90% of apples, blueberries, and cucumbers to name a few. Bees contribute to approximately $15 billion of U.S. crop production per year.
But each year, bees are dying off. Between 2015-2016, 44% of beekeeper colonies died. In 2017, bees were placed on the endangered species list.
Not only are bees providing us with food and maintaining a healthy ecosystem, they are also helping reduce human-elephant conflict in Kenya, Africa. Elephants are known to be afraid of bees which lead Save The Elephants to develop “Elephant and Bees Project that helps farmers reduce elephant crop raids by placing beehives around the crops as a deterrent. This is a major win in all directions to help the farmers grow and sell their crops successfully, bees help pollinate crops, and elephant-human interaction is reduced.
We really do need the bees but the bees really do need our help!
One young girl, Mikaila from Austin, Texas is stepping up for the bees. When she was just four years old, within a week, she got stung twice by a bee. She decided to learn more about what bees do and learned how important bees are to our food production. Mikaila had an idea to begin selling lemonade (her Great-Granny’s recipe) and “Me and the Bees” was born using honey instead of sugar for sweetener. Now her lemonade is sold in places like Whole Foods and World Market. Mikaila started a foundation to help save the bees through research, education, and protection. To learn how she is helping the bees, click here.
There are also a number of ways we can help bees from creating a garden or homes for them. To learn more, you can find tips here.
Each one of us has a unique reason and purpose for being here and we are all inter-connected. Recognizing this is the first step which helps us see the magic and beauty that surrounds us.
References:
1. https://www.saveonenergy.com/honeybees-become-extinct/
2. https://thehoneybeeconservancy.org/how-to-save-the-bees/
3. https://ento.psu.edu/pollinators/resources-and-outreach/what-are-pollinators-and-why-do-we-need-them
