Why should anyone care about bees?
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Our world's bees are in trouble, suffering from
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Bee extinction means less food – for us, for an expanding global human population, and for many other animals.
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Imagine that, for breakfast, you enjoy eating yogurt topped with berries and almonds, with a spoonful of honey stirred in. While bees produce honey, they also indirectly produce berries, almonds and yogurt. How so? Berries and almonds rely on animal pollination, meaning that pollen – or plant sperm – is carried by animals from flower to flower, thereby fertilizing them. This work is carried out not only by honeybees, but by the non-honey-producing bumblebees and blue mason bees.
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Leafcutter bee (Megachile rotundata)
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And yogurt? It starts with dairy cows fed on alfalfa — a crop almost entirely pollinated by the humble leafcutter bee.
Now multiply your breakfast by 8 billion people. Then imagine those bees vanish, taking this breakfast with them. What do you think happens to social stability when food disappears? Bees aren’t a “nice-to-have.” As this breakfast example shows, protecting them is directly tied to our own well-being — and that of Earth. |
