Honeybees have a great influence on human population and the ecosystem, but not many people realize that. The existence and survival of honeybees is critical to our own. Albert Einstein declared long ago: “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination, no more men."
Besides making honey, honeybees have a very important job to do – facilitate pollination. A decline in honeybee population would greatly affect the process of pollination, reducing plant growth and eventually, would make everyone starve. Today, their life worldwide is threatened and to some extent we are responsible for it.
There are many natural causes that can endanger bees – pests, parasites, bacterial and fungal diseases, and environmental changes, for example, and we are contributing to the ill fate of the bees with our use of pesticides. Scientists have identified a complex set of factors that increases the honey bee’s stress and reduces its immune system. As a result the worker bees either die or abandon their hive in what is now known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). We might not have noticed yet but it has been reported that honeybees are disappearing, especially in North America, and this could soon become a global epidemic.
While scientists are working hard to understand this phenomenon better, and we must thank them for that, let's do what we can to save honeybees. Let's begin by first respecting them. Let's not shoo them off when we find that they have built a hive in a tree in our gardens, and instead let's be grateful that they have. Let's not value these creatures only because they make honey. Let's bear in mind that our survival depends on theirs.
SAVE HIVES. SAVE LIVES!
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