The recent threat of extinction of bees has highlighted their importance in our daily lives. Bees are responsible for pollen, beeswax, propolis and royal jelly. With the decreasing population of honey bees worldwide, General Mills’s Cheerios started a campaign this March to raise awareness.
Cheerios decided to step in and take their mascot, Buzz the Bee, off their cereal boxes. Buzz has been the official mascot of Honey Nut Cheerios since the ‘80s. Buzz did not receive his name until the 2000 national contest to dub him. Kristine Tong, a fifth grade student from Coolidge, Texas, won. On March 15, Cheerios tweeted, “Buzz Bee is off the box to help his pollinator friends who are in trouble. Join the mission to #bringbackthebees!”
The bombus affinis species, or more commonly known as the rusty-patched honey bee, was declared endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on March 21. In January 2015, Hawkeye writer Phoebe Doscher wrote an article “Where Have the Bees Gone?”. Doscher wrote that in 2006, the decrease of all bees, including commercial honey bees, have declined 40 percent. Recent studies have shown that that number is only increasing. Over the course of twenty years, the population of the species has plummeted almost 90 percent.
“It’s the plight of the honey bee or of any bee. It’s not just the honey bees it’s all bees. Honey bees are not native to the United States. But they are very important because our native bee population is so small that with all of our agriculture most of them have to be pollinated; a third has to be pollinated by bees. There are not enough native bees to pollinate them all so we bring in honey bees to help pollination,” NHS science teacher Daryl Nicholson said. Nicholson has been a bee keeper for seven years.
Bees and other pollinators play a big role in our food and resources. 35 percent of the world’s food supply is pollinated by bees.
“And so without the bees to pollinate, there are other pollinators, dragonflies, hummingbirds but the bees do a lot of that work. Without them we are harming our ability to make food. So that really worries me,” NHS science teacher Karolyn Baumgartner said.
The causes are pesticides, parasites and habitat lost. The Food and Agriculture Organization said that 40 percent of the bees’ habitats are being used for agriculture, use of chemicals and climate change is another big factor in their decline.
Bee keeping is a very common practice; there are over 200,000 beekeepers in the U.S. alone. Connecticut beekeepers produce blueberries, raspberries, buckwheat and wildflowers. “Bees are very important because they pollinate plants for us to eat and visually enjoy. Without them we wouldn’t have as many of those luxuries,” NHS freshman Owen Meeker said. Meeker is a bee keeper with his family.
“It’s important for Cheerios to raise awareness because the population is decreasing and not a lot of people are aware of what they do,” Meeker said.
The company kick-started their campaign with a goal to send 100 million packets of wildflower seeds to citizens in the U.S. for free, donated by Vesey Seeds.
“I think it’s like the thing now; most people are aware of it and are talking about it. Cheerios wanted to get on the bandwagon with that which is probably going to help sell some product and I think that more and more companies are becoming environmentally conscience because their customers are becoming environmentally conscience. So in order to sell product they want to be in line or have the same philosophies as their customers. They already had the honey bee on their boxes so it was a perfect opportunity,” Nicholson said.
Planting wildflowers create new environments for the bees to pollinate as well as building habitats for them to feed their young. Cheerios succeed their goal in handing 1.5 billion seeds; the goal was broken on March 17.
The General-Mills company tweeted this after exceeding their goal, “We're thrilled by the unBEElievable support to #bringbackthebees! Let's continue to create a bee-friendlier world!” However, this was not the first time this campaign was seen. Last year, Canada had its own #Bringbackthebees campaign. Canada had about 100 million seeds distributed. Controversy arose over the seeds is that some of the wildflower seeds are considered non-native plants in some areas. The Invasive Species Council of B.C. in Canada frowned upon the company handing out California poppy seeds. They considered the plant to be an invasive plant.
“Forget-me-not is banned as a noxious weed in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The California poppy is nice in California, but listed as an ‘invasive exotic pest plant’ in southeastern states. And many of the flowers on this list are not native to anywhere in the U.S., so they are not necessarily good matches for our local bees,” Lifehacker.com said.
“I don’t think it [the invasive plants] would affect the bees but I think mainly what it is that all eco-systems are connected and each species plays a role. So an invasive species can come in and disrupt the eco-system; they don’t have natural predators so they usually can survive better than a native plant. They will overtake and then the natives start to die out,” Baumgartner said.
BBC said that in the U.K., bees contribute £ 400 million to the economy. That’s about $364.42 million American dollars.
“A world without bees is like a factory without workers because they provide flowers, plants and food that we will not be able to reproduce. This will decrease the food supply,” Meeker said.
Bees don’t just pollinate human food, but they also pollinate plants for other animals in their habitat to survive off of. Some livestock are dependent on bee pollinate products. Cattle and sheep depend on sweet clover, another bee pollinated crop.
“Each plant and animal has a role to play in an eco-system. When they start disappearing the whole eco-system changes and who knows what’s going to happen. Anytime an animal or species goes extinct or endangered it’s a tragedy,” Baumgartner said.
The population of bees may be on decline, but the awareness for their impact on our food supply and environment is spreading.
Image Courtesy of PBS