The Egyptians were perhaps, the first people to benefit from keeping bees, but now more than ever, beekeeping is critical due to the world’s declining wild bee population. With hopes to bringing back the bees, backyard beekeeping is crossing over city lines and into suburban and urban areas for the common public to adopt.
Busy bees
The work ethic of honey bees is to be marveled at, in addition to how important of a role they play in each of our lives. Every spring, the banded females of the sky set out on missions to locate richly-endowed flowers for picking the best pollen. After collection, these bees find their way back to their hives and begin turning the pressed pollen into golden sweet perfection. Each hive, composed of nearly 60,000 bees on average, is built upon the maternal care of the queen bee and her entourage. The reliance we have on them is likely taken for granted, but much of our food crop production requires pollination from them. Along with the fruits, vegetables, berries and nuts that are harvested with due respect to the bee, honey is also added to the list. Honey has been revered by mankind since ancient times for its sweet taste along with its medicinal properties. Honey bees manufacture other products packed full of vitamins and immunity benefactors too, including bee’s wax, royal jelly and propolis.
We are more dependent on nature than we would like to think
In 2011, the U.N.’s environmental agency stated that the world’s bee population will continue to decline unless people take an initiative to manage the planet better. Executive director of the U.N.’s environmental program, Achim Steiner, said “Human beings have fabricated the illusion that in the 21st century they have the technological prowess to be independent of nature.” He added, “Bees underline the reality that we are more, not less dependent on nature’s services in a world close to 7 billion people.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture stated that the U.S. honey-producing colonies were 5.5 million in 1950 and have been cut in half to 2.5 million in 2007. With the honey bee population dwindling down, it is possible that food sources that are available now may not be available in the future. This is an especially grave concern for the economy because of the 100 crops that provide 90 percent of the world’s food; more than 70 are pollinated by bees.
Where have all the bees gone?
Urbanization, pesticide use, parasitic migration and the introduction of new kinds of pathogens are largely responsible for the shrinking numbers of honey bees. In the past 50 years, the extent of land development in rural areas has been so great that places for bees to forage and live are missing. Granted, bees will travel miles to find suitable flowers to gather from, but this of itself, is a concession that they must make in order to survive. Additionally, when honey bees are out collecting pollen from their sources, they may also be collecting pesticide residuals that they bring back to their hives. These pesticides may have been intended to ward off pests, but they are toxic agents that kill whatever they come in contact with. Colony Collapse Disorder (CDD) has been linked to the possible usage of pesticides along with the serious spread of parasites and pathogens. Unfortunately, international trade has provided a means of transportation for parasitic mites and bee diseases to migrate from one region to another.
Do your part to save the bees
You can help save the bees by becoming a backyard beekeeper. By doing so, you will be offering a much needed home for our honey bees. If you don’t foresee yourself as a beekeeper, you can still do your part to save the bees. Try eliminating pesticide use in your garden areas and on your lawn by adopting Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies. This means finding the least lethal controls such as plant oils and other substitutes that may not entirely eradicate a problem, but they will bring them down to manageable levels. You may also consider planting a bee-friendly garden. On a bigger scale, better land management is central to bringing back more sustainable levels of bee populations. In the meantime, you can go small-scale and impact the honey bee population in a big way by becoming a backyard beekeeper.
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