The bees are dying.
Our food crops need pollination by bees.
Without bees, we have no food.
Period.
Why are the bees dying? It depends on who you ask - parasitic mites, weather conditions, transporting bees from crop to crop weakens their immune system, blah, blah, blah.
But the single most agreed upon reason for the death of our important honey bees and bumblebees are pesticides.
Toxic, synthetic, neuro-toxic substances created by scientists are the pesticides of today.
They do not exist in Nature but are chemical Frankensteins used to wipe out pest populations.
But, they wipe out other creatures too.
Remember DDT? It is the poster child for science gone wrong where this brand new pesticide was touted as the ultimate solution to pests.
Minimal testing, giddy scientists and a gullible public used copious amounts of DDT under much celebration.
In fact, DDT won a Nobel Prize in Medicine because it was so fabulous! Well, fast forward a few years and Environmental Armageddon was going on - species were pushed to extinction, waterways were polluted beyond repair, and DDT traces were found throughout the human population and tied to a variety of health concerns.
In an about-face extraordinaire, DDT was yanked from the shelves.
It was banned with much fervor and mankind collectively learned a valuable lesson.
Right? Well, no.
Mankind learned how to be sneaky.
Large chemical companies figured out how to turn their corporate greed into slick consumer campaigns that showed happy, healthy children and pets running across green lawns that could only be achieved using their 'new and improved, safe' chemicals.
Never mind that they are just as toxic, have no long-term studies, and are proven causal agents to neurological issues for humans such as ADHD, Autism, Alzheimer's, etc.
If you have a crop with pests and spray toxic, synthetic pesticides, you will also kill every single bee that is within range of that crop and every single bee that subsequently feeds on the pollen of that crop.
One application can affect ALL bees for months and then those bees go back to their hives and infect all the other bees.
Here is the scary part: You want to help so you go to the local Garden Center and purchase Bee-Friendly plants for your yard.
Well, guess what? According to a study funded by Friends of the Earth and BeeAction.
org, more than 54% of all Bee-Friendly plants sold in Garden Centers contain lethal doses of systemic pesticides within the plants.
With no warning labels whatsoever to consumers who are now unknowingly murdering bees, the problem compounds.
What is the solution? Demand that the use of synthetic, systemic pesticides be banned.
There are plenty of natural pesticides that are harmless to bees.
In the very least, use of non-systemic pesticides can be managed to minimize bees' exposure.
Grow Bee-Friendly plants from seed or take cuttings from plants owned by friends that you know have no systemic pesticides.
We need our bees.