For years now one of the world’s most important insects has been disappearing for an array of reasons that we know too little about. Since 2006 cases of colony collapse disorder have been killing bee hives. This along with many other factors like almond milk are one of the large reasons bees are dying. Without our main pollinators, the bees, humans won’t have enough to eat. 

Colony collapse disorder is when worker bees disappear from the hive. There are many different causes for this.  Affected colonies have more organisms called pathogens, then the colonies that are not affected by colony collapse . This disorder caused the loss of about 40% of honeybee colonies in the year 2019. When beekeepers keep multiple hives near each other of different colonies, some of them could have a disease and spread it to the healthy hives. Bees travel far and are known to go to the wrong hive, which means affected bees could spread the deadly diseases to others who otherwise wouldn’t have been affected. 

Habitat loss hurts the bees because their resources for food and for nesting are limited and being destroyed. Freshman Simran Dattani points out “Climate change is hurting the honey bees even more than we realize, we cannot do anything about various reasons the bees are dying, however, we can change climate change”. Droughts caused by global warming along with pesticides also are stressors for the bees and are thought to weaken them against disease. While pesticides are not meant to hurt the insects we need, they are still harmful to them. A study conducted by researchers in the United Kingdom found that when they offered bees a plain, sugary solution and a solution laced with neonics, the bees preferred the one laced with neonics. Neonicotinoids are a pest repeller easy for farmers to use, but when the bees feed on the flowers that have been sprayed, it has long term effects as it gets in their honey. Neonicotinoids are thought to be one of the main factors in the decline of the honeybee population. Almonds are covered with neonicotinoids and use about 35 millions pounds each year. The bees are attracted to the sweet almonds but when they bring the neonicotinoids back on their legs, or by licking it, it has very damaging effects. 

The bees dying will have many negative effects on all of the animal kingdom. They are our main pollinators and without them we would not be able to grow enough food to sustain humans. As Ava Tabron 24’ says “Bees provide a lot for the earth. Without bees then production of food would become a major issue”. Farmers crops will weaken or be sparse with the decrease of honey bees. For example, blueberries and cherries rely on honeybees for 90 percent of their pollination. Even the economy will be affected by the bees dying, bees contribute 15 billion dollars to agriculture each year, according to Earth day. Already we are seeing the effects of our global loss of bees “In china they have people who are pollinators, they go from plant to plant because they don’t have enough bees”-  says Ms Hegenbarth middle school math and earth science teacher. All plants and animals will be extremely affected by this loss of biodiversity. Bees pollinate fruit plants that sustain other animals. Without the pollination, that fruit won’t grow and plants’ seeds won’t be carried as much without bees. 

Bees are more important to our environment than most people realize. While certain items like almond milk are advertised as more eco friendly because they are plant based, doing your own research is what really matters, because looks can be deceiving.