Not Just a Bug

Not Just a Bug

I used to love riding the school bus.  Shiny yellow paint, giant wheels, and no seat belts were all it took for my six-year-old mind to scream adventure.  My sister and I grinned as we took our seats at the front of the bus.  After a few minutes of chatting with the other kids, I felt a pinch on my arm.  Slightly alarmed, I looked down to see the most disgusting, hideous bug I had ever seen in my entire life.  I smacked at it and it landed on the bus floor, squirming around like a worm half fried on a sidewalk.  “It’s a bee!” an older and wiser 4^th grader declared.

“Eww!  Squash it!” I whined. 

“There’s no use in squashing it,” the 4^th grader replied.  Once it stings you, it’s gonna die anyway.”

“I’ll kill it!” exclaimed a skinny boy with glasses.  With one loud thunk he stepped on the bee with his shoe.  We all circled around the bee and leaned in to observe the tiny mound of guts that remained. 

Ten years later in my high school biology class, I thought about that day in the first grade.  We had been studying plant evolution and reproduction, and I began to wonder exactly what role and impact bees had on the environment.  

I realized that many people, like me and the other children in the story above, think little of bees.  It doesn’t take long for people to start swatting once the annoying buzz tickles their ear.  But before we pull out the fly swatter, maybe we should consider everything that bees provide us, as well as their current stance in the world. 

Since winter 2006, the bee population has been declining at an unusually fast rate.  Over the next 6 months 80% of bees went out in search of plants to pollinate and never returned.  Panicked beekeepers termed the disappearance as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).  Because bees have been around for 130 million years, you might wonder why they are disappearing now.  Researchers believe that harmful pesticides, deforestation, global warming, and mites might be factors contributing to CCD.  Industrial agriculture might also play a role. 

CCD is a problem because honey bees are the most important pollinator in the ecosystem.  Although some plants rely on wind or self-pollination, most plants require bees to cross-pollinate for them.  This includes a third of the food that we produce in the United States.  In a world without bees, plants that we take for granted will die, as will the animals that eat those plants. Fruits, vegetables, and even nuts may disappear before our very eyes.  We would have to rely on a diet consisting of mainly corn, wheat, and rice. 

Bees contribute to a plethora of other items that you might not expect them to.  Their wax can be used for candles, cosmetics, furniture and shoe polish, as well as hair removers and many other household products.  Honey is also a beneficial product that bees produce.  It contains calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper, and other essential minerals.  Vitamins and healthy amino acids are also found in honey.  It turns out that honey is not just a delicious and healthy spread!  Putting honey on a cut or burn will speed up the healing process.  It can also act as a cough suppressant when ingested. You can help protect the bees by planting flowering plants, fighting against pesticide use, and limiting your participation towards global warming by walking or biking to work or school.  If we all ban together to take steps toward a cleaner and environmentally-conscious world, we can prevent critical species loss from happening again.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/silence-of-the-bees/full-episode/251/

 Works Cited

"Honey - The Healthy Choice - BeeMaid Honey." Beemaid Natural Honey Products Are Proudly Owned by Canadian Beekeepers - BeeMaid Honey. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.beemaid.com/honey-the-healthy-choice>.

"Honeybees, Colony Collapse Disorder | Silence of the Bees: Introduction | Nature | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/silence-of-the-bees/introduction/38/>.

"Video: Full Episode - Silence of the Bees - Colony Collapse Disorder, CCD, Honeybees | Nature | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/silence-of-the-bees/full-episode/251/>.