Without bees, there goes our fruits, vegetables and flowers. Well, fruits and vegetables may still be available but in extremely limited supply and at prices that may be astronomical! And this is not a someday-it-may-happen sci-fi kind of story. We may be experiencing the effects of little to no pollination by next summer.
Scientists have been researching this phenomenon and have come up with a very scary label called "Colony Collapse Disorder". Yikes! That DOES have a foreboding ring to it, doesn't it?
They are unsure as to all the causes of CCD but some that I found intriguing, and frightening are:
- Pesticides
- Poor nutrition
- An "AIDS-like" virus which lowers the immune system
- Moving ALOT! (Hives are rented out by bee keepers to farmers for weeks at a time for pollination purposes and then they are moved to another farm to begin again
- And finally...drum roll please...STRESS
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, our humble honey bees are stressed! The above factors have created an insect which is highly stressed and not very healthy with a suppressed immune system, not unlike us, huh?
Bees, usually viewed as a nuisance...bearers of stingers and disrupters of picnics...are actually mirrors, reflectors of our human lives. Are we not impacted by the use of pesticides? And poor nutrition? And who among us has not suffered from the results of a move, let alone many moves made involuntarily every couple of weeks?
And lastly, ponder this one word: STRESS! It's not enough that we run around day after day in a constant state of stress but now we have extended our stressors to an insect - and one we rely upon to help feed us. Can we teach a bee to slow down, meditate, practice yoga, breathe? Unlikely. Busy as a bee and all that. But what about the environmental factors that are causing our devoted bees to become ill? Surely we CAN address some of those. For our own sakes.
Next time you bite into a crunchy apple, pop a delicious red strawberry into your mouth, or admire the colorful variety of veggies lining a salad bar, give thanks to the honey bee.
