There is an issue that I would like to address without only my college communications class, but with the greater public and communities across the U.S.  I had originally began researching various topics, and came across one in particular that I felt compelled to expose had a direct impact on the environment– on a scale large enough to affect not only local environments, but the whole ecosystem at large:  the dramatic decrease in our honeybee population in 2006.

Apart from my lack of awareness of this fact, what interested me most was the rate at which these bees are dying, and the degree at which these bees affected us and our world we live in.  According to researchers at the Butlar County Beekeepers Association located in Miami, Florida, wild bee hives have gone from 22 to 25 million in total to an astonishing zero within the last 17 years, which has forced scientists and bee keepers across the U.S. to breed honey bees in captivity. Like me, many of you are probably asking, “how does this massive decrease in our bee population affect us, and the environment?”  Well, let me put it this way: commercial bee hives pollinate over one third of America’s crops, such as peaches, apples, cherries, strawberries, to nuts like almonds, and not to mention many of the flowers they fertilize for our courtship.  When there is a shortage of bees to pollinate crops, then there becomes a shortage of crop harvest and food supply, which causes an increase in the cost of the food we eat. (For more information on how the shortage of honey bees affects us and the environment, stay tuned for the video links below.)

Most of you are also probably wondering the cause behind this massive decrease in the honeybee population.  Amongst some of the many allegations researchers are claiming as reasons for this decrease (which I will further discuss in future blogs after more personal research), one in particular I thought was of a major concern to mention.  Konrad Bouffard, one of the most respected and successful beekeepers in the U.S. located in Central Texas and holds the largest beekeeping school in America, says that bees have been exposed to a new pesticide called neonicotinoids.  Neonicotinoids is a pesticide commonly derived from the chemical nicotine, which farmers use to fertilize their crops.  However, when digested by honeybees through pollination, the reaction of this chemical disrupts their digestive system, and kills them before returning to their hives. 

Proactivity for honeybee preservation, suggests organic farming as a means to maintain ecological diversity in our environment and the quality of food it produces for human consumption.