Mako Goldston
Mr. Bursch
Honors Biology, p. 5
29 November 2013
Plight of the Honey Bees
Over the past few years, the population of bees have been declining drastically. Beekeepers in the United States first noticed the bees disappearing in 2006, and over 3 million colonies of bees have died in the US since then Scientists believe that the bees were abandoning their homes for many reasons, such as pesticides making them sick and having a low food supply. Scientists call this the Colony Collapse Disorder. According to nrdc.org, scientists “estimate that nearly one-third of all honey bee colonies in the country have vanished.” Although bees are responsible for pollinating a lot of the fruits and vegetables we eat daily, such as apples, apricots, almonds, cucumbers, and onions, people do not realize the importance of what would happen if the whole honey bee colony were to die out. It is said that the United States could lose $15 million worth of crops without bees. I believe that raising the price of honey and fruits and vegetables pollinated by honey bees, and publishing a lot of articles in magazines and newspapers to raise awareness of the decreasing bee population will make a critical mass of people “wake up” to the plight of the bees and might make people do something about it.
Firstly, I believe that raising the price of honey and the fruits and vegetables pollinated by bees would cause people to note the importance of bees disappearing. Although most people do not know it, honeybees, along with other pollinators, are “responsible in one way or another for the pollination of approximately 100 crops” (foxnews.com). Without pollinators like honey bees, the country would no doubt face shortages of the crops that need pollination after a while. I think that if the prices of some of these crops are raised, people would complain and protest, and would question why the prices are being raised. This would make people become aware of the importance and severity of bees disappearing and how we, in theory, cannot survive without them. Furthermore, if the plight of the honeybees is known enough, we could raise money which could go to research foundations or beekeepers to try to keep population of bees steady, so that they won’t be endangered anymore.
In addition, I think that posting articles on magazines and newspapers about the plight of bees could raise awareness for bees. Since magazines and newspapers are read by many people daily, an article about bees here and there would not hurt, and people could be shown how crucial bees are to us and the environment. According to ccpollen.com, “Without [bees], the development of life on earth...would have been much different and the conditions for human development may not have existed.” This means that humans might have not evolved if honey bees did not exist. I think that if information like this is emphasized in articles, then people will begin to think about what they can do to prevent more bees from dying. Also, if the main ideas of the problem are addressed in the article, then people will at least be informed about this issue and hopefully will raise awareness to it.
Some people may say that the plight of the honey bees cannot be helped and that it is not something that can be reversed. Others may not care about if bees are dying, unknowing of how crucial they are to humans. However, I believe that if those people read an article about bees in a newspaper or magazine article, they would find that bees are essential to humans, and about how they are disappearing largely. Also, if they choose to ignore this big issue, they may be the people who are questioning why the fruits and vegetable prices are going up, and will be informed in that way about the honey bees and their decreasing numbers. Although it may be hard to stop the population of bees from dropping completely, small things can be done to help restore all of the bees, and small things add up. In this way, raising the prices of food pollinated by bees and writing articles about bees in newspapers and magazines can cause people to “wake up” to the plight of the bees and realize the severity of the problem in time, which is that if bees were to disappear completely, we would be facing a loss of $15 million worth of crops.
In conclusion, many people are not aware of the issue of honey bees going extinct. In order to make people realize that this is a big problem, prices of the fruits and vegetables pollinated by bees should go up, and articles should be published in newspapers and magazines to “wake up” a critical mass of people. If the honey bees were to go extinct and we do not realize in time, we could be facing a loss $15 million worth of crops, and food shortages after a while. Therefore, people need to understand the issue of honey bees and raise awareness for them, so that something can be done to stop the bees from dying.
Sources
- http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572
- http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/07/19/crops-that-would-disappear-without-bees/
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