Our Supermarkets without Bees

Jun 22, 2013 by The Tasty Buzz

People often ask me what will happen if all the bees die. Whole Foods (as part of their "Share the Buzz" campaign) recently posted a great photo (below) to illustrate this visually, since it's quite hard to really comprehend the role that bees play in our agriculture. I find the photo rather haunting. When people ask about dying bees, they usually mean honeybees. But the truth is, many pollinators are responsible for the fruits in the photos, not just honeybees. And those pollinators are being affected by some of the same causes that are impacting honeybees: mites, pesticides, diseases, and lack of habitat and nutritional variety (i.e. not enough flowers). A recent devastating bumblebee die-off in Oregon (over 25,000 bumblebees were found dead in a mall parking lot) has led to research on pesticides that might have been involved. Regardless of the cause, it's clear that not just honeybees, but wild bees and other pollinators (birds, bats, and other insects) are in need of our help and protection. If you'd like to find out more about what you can do and what's being done to help ALL pollinators, here are a couple organizations you should check out: Pollinator Partnership: http://www.pollinator.org/index.html The Xerces Society: http://www.xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/organic-farms/