Jennifer Sass's Blog
The bees need us to make a buzz for them!
June 27, 2008
Posted by Jennifer Sass in Health and the Environment
Honeybees make the world go round. Really! They contribute approximately $15 Billion..with a 'B'..billion dollars to the U.S. economy annually through their free services to pollinate over 130 cash crops, including 1/3 of the foods of the human diet. No bees, no halloween carved pumpkin, no thanksgiving pumpkin pie, no cherry, apple, or blueberry pie either. Stop and think about it!
Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is devastating our bees. Anything that has its own name and acronym is serious! CCD describes the estimate loss of approximately 40% of the nation's bee colonies! No one understands exactly what causes CCD, and it's probably a combination of things: disease, viruses, weakened immune system, and toxic pesticides are all likely contributers.
These little plump creatures provide an essential service, asking only for a little consideration in return. The NRDC bee experts suggest the following considerations:
- Don't kill bees when you see them. Instead, thank your little friends as they buzz by.
- Read the labels and avoid using pesticides or chemicals on your lawn and garden that indicate they are harmful to bees.
- Preserve green space, flowers, trees, and other food sources for bees.
- EPA must stop registering pesticides for agriculture use that EPA has determined to be "highly toxic to honeybees" (Duh!). This would include all of the organophosphate pesticides that EPA continues to approve for agriculture.
- Senator Boxer (D-Calif) introduced The Pollinator Protection Act in June, 2007. In March of this year, Senator Boxer lead a bipartisan group of 18 Senators to support CCD research. In May, 2008, the U.S. Senate passed the 2008 Farm Bill conference report, legislation that included the Pollinator Protection Act provision that authorizes up to $100 million over five years for high priority research dedicated to maintaining and protecting our honey bee and native pollinator populations.
Private initiatives are helping a lot! Haagen Dazs is throwing $250,000 to the problem through its new ice cream flavor, Honey Bee Vanilla. Burt’s Bees natural personal care products donated $32,000 and the National Honey Board $13,000.
What can you do? Check out our NRDC website for more info and ideas you can try at home, including establishing a hive in your yard. And, for more bee information, check out this story in the NRDC magazine, On Earth.
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Comments
Mary Speed — Jun 27 2008 03:20 PM
I've studied bee-keeping, focusing on older techniques for disease-control and parasite-management. I've also see Sierra Magazine mention that pesticides, herbicides, and plastics share common hormone-disrupting chemicals. I think the plastic food and water carriers used with livestock and for rain-collection is bothering the bees. Even rubber containers are often partly plastic nowadays.
Some plastics are toxic when sunlight hits them. Some are less toxic than are others.
While pregnant, I had trouble digesting anything that had contacted plastic--often not knowing until after I had eaten that plastic had been on it. The food would make my stomach feel gassy and warm-ish, and it seemed to swell-up the tissues in my gut. Even water from plastic containers was a problem, though a few minutes of contact with some types of plastic cups didn't create such problems.
I think the bees are getting enzyme poisons from water in plastic containers (feeling sick, slowed-down and heavy) thus becoming unable to get back to the hive.
Jen Sass — Jun 27 2008 03:27 PM
Hi Mary,
We in the NRDC Health Program are paying close attention to the toxics in plastics, and to other hormone disrupting chemicals, including those found in pesticides. Your comment above carries a lot of truth, i'm sure. Sorry to hear about your illnesses related to plastics during pregnancy...very interesting, though! Thanks for commenting!