Lesson Three: Bees
And why helping the little guys out is quite the buzz
Our planet has been facing a massive species extinction over the last few decades. One of the most serious of these extinctions is the decrease we’re seeing in beehive populations 🐝.
Why is this serious you may ask? The answer relates to plant reproduction. Oh yes, the Marvin Gaye of the leaf world.
Bees play the very important role of taking pollen from a male plant and delivering it to a female plant … resulting in a baby plant 🌱 🎉
(Very technical terms, I know)
While bees aren’t the only pollinators (they get help from birds 🕊️, bats 🦇, beetles 🐞 and butterflies 🦋), they are by far the most effective.
So what does this mean for the plants of the world?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, over 1/3 of the world’s food production depends on bees.
According to the Government Of Canada, the most recent estimate* of economic contribution shows that between $4 to $5.5 billion in additional crop value is made possible through the pollination services provided by honey bees**.
Without bees, this cost would be absorbed by Canadian shoppers resulting in SHOCKING bills at the register.
$16 for an apple? Ya, I’ll pass. 💁
This would impact (and realistically eliminate) our favourite foods like…
I would like to make it clear that 🍫CHOCOLATE, 🥑AVOCADOS, and ☕COFFEE are on that list. What will we millennials do?!
So, how we are losing bees? There are several reasons, the main ones being:
Habitat destruction (eg. loss of flower meadows)
Climate change
The use of pesticides
Increasing crop monocultures
The varroa mite (p.s. do not google this one 🤢)
We must all do our part so plants can stay freaky 😉 here’s how you can help:
Here’s also a handy graphic I found on fix.com on bee-friendly flowers you can plant based on time of year:
