“Save the Bees”

Save the Bees

Hailey Velasquez, Staff Writer

Sadly, bees are dying out, which is a terrible loss of how much we need them in our world. They are a vital part of our ecosystem, economy, and environment. They pollinate our plants, which means they carry pollen between different plants and fertilize them. This supports the growth of trees, flowers, and other plants, which “serve as food and shelter for creatures large and small.”.= As well as helping creatures, bees also help humans in a variety of ways. They provide fruits, berries, nuts, and seeds. A world without bees would not be a good world to live in. This is why we need to preserve the population of bees before it’s too late. 

I’ll admit, bees can seem annoying and scary at times, but without bees, we would lose many things that are vital to survive.  Douglas Main, a writer for National Geographic, has stated in his article that, “ [ The bees]  numbers are dropping. New research using a massive dataset found that the insects are far less common than they used to be; in North America, you are nearly 50 percent less likely to see a bumblebee in any given area than you were prior to 1974.” This is a major issue that will affect both humans and animals. One reason for bees dying out is because of the fast-changing weather and temperatures. Bees only live for a year at most and the sudden changing temperatures do not help. Jermy Kerr, a study co-author, has explained that “ [ Bees] are still vulnerable to shifts in temperature, and things like unusually early ice melts and re-freezes.” There is only so much that bees can handle and they are being pushed to their limit with all the sudden temperature changes.  As Douglas Main explains in the article, “ … scientists found that in areas that have become hotter in the last generation, or have experienced more extreme temperature swings, bumblebees are less abundant.” This goes to show that bees cannot tolerate the temperature changes and because of that, they are dying out. Temperature changes are not the only reason bees are dying out. Their population is also declining due to “ pesticides like neonicotinoids—which are extremely toxic to all bees—destruction of habitat by development and conversion of wildlands into agriculture, the spread of pathogens, and the release of non-native bees for commercial pollination.” All of these factors go along with why the bee population is declining. Bees are one of the most important species on this planet, and that is why we have to strive to keep their population alive. As it says in BBC Future, “We may lose all the plants that bees pollinate, all of the animals that eat those plants and so on up the food chain. Which means a world without bees could struggle to sustain the global human population of 7 billion. Our supermarkets would have half the amount of fruit and vegetables.” 

In conclusion, bees are dying out and we have to do something to keep the population alive. Some things we can do is avoid the use of pesticides and planting flowers that bumblebees can feed on. As well as doing that, people can build little hideouts to shield them from the heat.  By doing these things the bee population can increase and they can continue helping the earth.