Dear bees,
We’ve had a complicated relationship. For years I thought you were on the same level as It the clown and Freddy Krueger. I know those characters are imaginary and you are very real but you managed to scare me just the same.
https://giphy.com/gifs/bees-hfiZDm282PYFq
It’s an irrational fear or at the very least annoyance people seem to have with bees. If they get in your face you either swat them or in my case run away. It wasn’t until recent, very recent, that I begrudgingly accepted you as necessary and productive members of society.
But this isn’t enough. Since 2006, the population of bees has declined considerably, a UN report found that up to 40% of bee populations are in decline. That’s like if the populations of China, India and the US disappeared all of a sudden.
Your formic-acid stingers might inspire fear in apiphobics, but what’s more terrifying is the fact that bees pollinate ⅓ of the crops that feed us humans. From avocados to strawberries, like it or not, bees are responsible for our favorite pricey toast and basically everything that makes life sweet.
Massive bee die-offs aren’t a new thing, but this one is especially ferocious, and mysterious. Scientists and beekeepers alike are baffled at what is causing worker bees to abandon their queen, a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder.
There are the traditional guesses: agricultural pesticides like neonicotinoids can cause damage to bees’ nervous systems or warmer winters where flowers bloom prematurely before bees can pollinate or fungicides intended for fungi not insects yet are still damaging or parasites that attack already weakened bee populations.
It most likely is a combination of those reasons, but most deadly of all is our indifference. We’ve all heard people say in passing “save the bees!” but the US Environmental Protection Agency is taking years to review neonicotinoids and commercial farming continues to blanket pesticides on their crops, we need to do more.
Besides lobbying for faster and more efficient tests of pesticides, we can plant native wildflowers, build homes for bees and support local and organic farms.
So bees, if you promise to stop stinging us humans maybe some more of us (especially in the agricultural chemical community and EPA administrators) will take the steps necessary to keep you around to terrorize kids in pools.
With respect,
Apiphobics everywhere