Over the weekend we shared a photo, that almost got as many shares as our most read blog post of all time.
Well not really, but it was still a lot.
The photo in question is a shot of a supermarket produce section now and a shot of what the the same section would look like after the extinction of bees.
The photo in question
The Huffington Post explains how serious the situation is,
“If that looks scary, it’s because it is. Take almonds. California harvests more than 80% of the world’s almonds. But you can’t grow the nut without honey bees and it takes 60% of the US’s remaining colonies just to pollinate that one $4 billion cash crop.
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.”
The Natural Resources Defense Council provides us with an extensive list of fruit and vegetables that will no longer be available if the honey bee dies out.
So, what is making bees sick? The bees are disappearing due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Researchers are yet to find out the exact cause of CCD, though there are numerous suspected causes, including pesticide exposure, invasive parasitic mites, an inadequate food supply and a new virus that targets bees’ immune systems.
You can find out more information on CCD in our blog post, Bee Poisoning: The death of a species?
The big question is, how can I take action?
Here are 5 things we can do to help save bees
- Stop using insecticide .
- Plant a bee-friendly garden:
Click here to discover some bee friendly Australian plants. - Find our more about bees.
- Support your local bee keepers.
- Sign petitions banning pesticides.
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