[Excerpt, click on link above for full article:] “Forget the plight of the polar bear for a moment and consider the coming collapse of the $30 billion honey bee economy in the US. Since 2006 honey bees responsible for pollinating more than 100 crops—from apples to zucchini— have been dying by the tens of millions. As a new report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) details, scientists are still struggling to pinpoint the cause of so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and time is running out… CCD has wiped out some 10 million bee hives worth $2 billion over the past six years. The death rate for colonies has hit 30% annually in recent years and there are now about 2.5 million honey bee colonies in the US, down from 6 million in 1947 and 3 million in 1990. That downward spiral leaves “virtually no cushion of bees for pollination,” the report’s authors write. If the death toll continues at the present rate, that means there will soon be barely enough bees to pollinate almonds, let alone avocadoes, blueberries, pears or plums. “We are one poor weather event or high winter bee loss away from a pollination disaster,” USDA scientist Jeff Pettis said in the report.”
Bryan Walsh, Senior Editor Time Magazine, 2013
[Excerpt, click on link above for full article:] ”More than [nine] years after it was first reported, colony-collapse disorder is still killing honeybees around the world. If scientists can't pinpoint the cause [of Colony Collapse Disorder], the economic and environmental damage could be immense... the fact that they are dying in large numbers, and we can’t say why, is very, very worrying.”
Benjamin P. Oldroyd, What’s Killing American Honeybees, 2007
[Excerpt, click on link above for full article:] " On February 22, 2007, many Americans woke up to media reports that something was awry with their honey bees. A significant proportion of American beekeepers were complaining of unusually high rates of colony loss... beekeepers in 22 states reported the problem. Some beekeepers lost nearly all of their colonies."
[Excerpt, click on link above for full article:] "On organic farms near natural habitat, we found that native bee communities could provide full pollination services even for a crop with heavy pollination requirements, without the intervention of managed honey bees. All other farms, however, experienced greatly reduced diversity and abundance of native bees, resulting in insufficient pollination services from native bees alone. We found that diversity was essential for sustaining the service... Continued degradation of the agro-natural landscape will destroy this “free” service, but conservation and restoration of bee habitat are potentially viable economic alternatives for reducing dependence on managed honey bees."
According to the USDA, honey bee pollination alone adds more than $15 billion in value to agricultural crops each year in the United States.
If bees were to disappear, many foods would also disappear including onions, tomatoes, apples, cranberries, grapes, peaches and nectarines, pears, bell peppers, kiwi, blueberries, strawberries, chili peppers, watermelon and many, many more!... a world without bees would certainly sting!
Many plants that we commonly see around homes promote honey bee health. Brighten your home or yard with beautiful flowers each year with bee-friendly flowers. Bee friendly home gardens are also great support for native honey bees. For a list of plants that bees love and we can eat, see nrdc.org