Why we can’t survive without bees

Without bees, our world’s main pollinators, the quantity, and quality of human food would drastically be decreased.

Food is essential to us. It gives us the energy to go through our day. It provides us with the minerals our bodies need nutritionally.

Photo by Dmitry Grigoriev on Unsplash

Put simply, food is our fuel. Without it, we’ll not be able to nourish our body and it will stop functioning, thus, resulting in death.

That’s why we should protect the one that puts food on our table.

But, who does puts the food on our tables?

Nope, it’s not your dad, not your mom either, and certainly not batman.

The answer is the BEES.

Yes, the bees are the one that puts food on our tables. Can you BEElieve it?

Of course silly, they’re not literally putting food on the tables. It’s more like they’re making that food possible to reach our tables.

They may be little in size but they sure are big in contributing to today’s society. Bees are responsible for a large portion of the food that people consume. Simply put, humans cannot exist without bees.

• Bees are the main pollinators in our environment. Don’t BEElieve me? Go, look it up. I’m pretty sure most people don’t know that since bees are hardly talked about. Honey bees - either wild or domestic - perform almost 80 percent of all pollination in the whole world. Three bee colonies can nearly pollinate a billion flowering plants and numerous types of fruits and vegetables in a day. Can you imagine even imagine what would become of our world when bees all died out?
• Bees are keystone species. That means that other species highly depend on them and if they were to be removed, the environment will drastically be changed resulting in many species of animals suffering, including us humans.
• Bees help various plants to grow, breed and produce food. They do this by transporting pollen between flowering plants and therefore keeping the cycle of life going. The crop production pollinated by bees is at least 35 percent worldwide. Pollinators have a role in nearly three-quarters of crops that produce fruits and seeds for human consumption.

So, what’s the deal with them? The thing is, the bee population is dwindling. And WE are the ones to blame.

• The use of pesticides is a quite common technique to eliminate unwanted pests. Consequently, the bees are also affected by this. Many insecticides can either directly kill bees or substantially affect the health of a bee colony.
• Climate change is also a factor in the decreasing numbers of bees worldwide. Because bees aren’t intended to fulfill their roles in heat, scorching conditions pose a distinct challenge. Flying becomes difficult because of the risk of overheating. This also makes them more vulnerable to predators, who can deplete their population and make it difficult for them to locate the food supplies they require to survive.
• Loss of habitat likely due to urbanization makes it hard for bees to find permanent shelter. Modernization and industrialization push bees off to their natural habitat, thus, causing changes in their behavior that eventually leads to death.

The loss of the bee population would need a significant shift in food sources. The extinction of bees might spell the end of many basic products.

Since bees pollinate many food crops, if all bees disappeared, we would have to adapt our diet. Grains such as rice, wheat, and maize are pollinated by the wind, so they would be OK, but we wouldn’t be able to cultivate many fruits and vegetables.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

But it doesn't have to be that way. There are solutions out there waiting for you to take them and get into action. We can save bees, we can save any other species that depend on them.

Common actions can restore the population of the bees.

Such as banning the use of dangerous types of pesticides and only using the less-toxic degradable ones. Also, avoid buying products that are pesticide-grown. Support organizations that are dedicated to saving the bees even without financial contribution. Stand with their dedication, that’ll mean a lot. Another, try to plant flowers and other plants that might attract pollinators like bees in your place. That’ll all be a great help in reversing the decreasing number of bees.

Bees are pollinators and pollinators help our foods grow.

No bees, no food. It’s that simple.

Save the bees, people.