2016

Honeybees vs Humans

Figure 1-Honeybee on flower (Chase).

Brianna Pinzel
ENGL 219-041
4/18/2016

Introduction
Global warming has had a detrimental impact on many organisms and
environmental systems as well as the extinction of species that play key roles in the
environment. Honey bees are an endangered species due to global warming and many
other anthropogenic causes such as pesticides on crops, pollution, and habitat
destruction. In the past 50 years, the population of honey bees has plummeted by 50
percent and the rate of loss of bees is unsustainable to human crop consumption and
plant pollination (Tim). As shown in Figure 1, honey bees have been dying in multitudes
and the damage is devastating to crop yields and human food consumption. The less
crops being pollenated by bees and grown, means less food being farmed that goes to
human consumption. Honey bees perform about 80 percent of all pollination worldwide
which means if bees are endangered, humans are endangered (Save the Bees). As
Albert Einstein once remarked, Mankind will not survive the honey bees
disappearance for more than five years (Hagopian). The question is, why are honey
bees going extinct and how do humans prevent bees from becoming extinct?

Figure 2- A Bulgarian beekeeper

holding bees that died due to pesticides
(Humans are Free).

Methods
By learning facts, causes, and effects to this
dilemma of honey bees going extinct, one can
provide a reasonable explanation of a solution that
could be implemented to aid in the preservation of
honeybees. When researching this topic, by using
resources that were reliable and valid, the
information that is presented is logical and is
coherent. Some experts on this issue of bee
extinction are beekeepers, biologists, and
scientists that specialize in melittology, the study of
bees. These experts can provide reliable
information that is based off experience, scientific
studies, research, and experimentation.
Results
There has been a decline in bee population
since around 2006 when noticeably large
populations of honey bees were dying off
(Hagopian). Beekeepers noticed that most of their
colonies were being affected by this strange and
rapid disappearance. As shown in Figure 2, once
bees started dying off in 2006 at a rapid rate, it was
so alarming and unusual that scientists named this

Figure 3- The mysterious honey bee extinction

(Tim).

phenomenon colony collapse disorder, or CCD (Tim). The ten most likely causes of
colony collapse disorder are the following: malnutrition, pesticides, genetically modified
crops, migratory beekeeping, lack of genetic biodiversity, beekeeping practices,
parasites and pathogens, toxins in the environment, electromagnetic radiation, and
climate change (Hadley). In Figure 3, the decline of honey producing bee colonies is
staggering and around 1985, there was a parasitic mite that was introduced into the
United States which seems to correlate with the decline in bee population. The colony
collapse disorder is indicated on the graph in 2006 which is the lowest that the bee
population in
history at approximately
2,500,000 colonies as
compared to the
maximum measured
population in 1950 with
approximately 5,500,000
colonies. CCD, Colony
Collapse Disorder, is
currently recognized as
an urgent crisis and in February of 2014, Newsweek ran an article summarizing a U.S.
Department of Agriculture, USDA, announcement that it will provide a three-milliondollar subsidy in order to help protect the honeybees from extinction, which is the one
animal on the planet that can keep humanity from going extinct. This emergency plan by
the USDA came into play after nearly a third of honey bees died the winter of 2013, an

increase of 42% from the previous year. The three-million-dollar subsidy is designed to
encourage dairy farmers and cattle ranchers to reseed their fields with eco-friendly
crops like alfalfa and clover, rather than crops with pesticides and genetically modified
seeds, to develop healthier habitats in order to increase the national bee population
(Hagopian). This encouragement to farmers and ranchers to change to an eco-friendly
crop is a good start to fueling the beginning of change and a brighter future for honey
bees. Most peoples opinions
about this issue is that they do not
understand the importance of
honey bees and the impact on our
environment if they became
extinct. Even though people are
uninformed about the importance
Figure 5-Honey bee on pink flower (Travelization).

of honeybees and the danger that

they are in, people are not reluctant to the information, which is a good start when
paving the way to change and activism. Preservation of bees is important to
environmental science because of the impact that bees have on the environment.
Without bees, there would be a domino effect of extinction of other species of plants
and animals, including humans. In environmental science, conservation and
sustainability are key topics that are cherished in the field. Conservation of the
environment around us and practicing sustainability for a healthier future are key goals
of environmental science. As of now, sustainability of honey bees is an issue that is
being taken seriously but needs to gain more momentum in order for it to have lasting

effects of saving the bees. Implementing laws that protect honey bees, forcing farms to
grow eco-friendly crops without pesticides or GMOs, and reducing toxins in the
environment and pollution will all be effective aids in bringing back the honey bees. The
future of honey bees is not looking so bright as of now, but if humanity works together to
save one bee at a time, the future will be a healthy place that humans can look forward
to.
Discuss
In regards to the deterioration of the honey bee population, the ten most likely
causes of colony collapse disorder are the following: malnutrition, pesticides, genetically
modified crops, migratory beekeeping, lack of genetic biodiversity, beekeeping
practices, parasites and pathogens, toxins in the environment, electromagnetic
radiation, and climate change (Hadley). With all these causes in mind, one can
determine that there needs to be changes made in order to prevent the bees from going
extinct. Some changes such as implementing laws that protect honey bees, forcing or
encouraging farms to grow eco-friendly crops without pesticides or GMOs, and reducing
toxins in the environment and pollution would all be effective aids in bringing back the
honey bees. The research, in regards to the focused research question, supports the
conclusions and solutions to this epidemic in the United States. There is factual
evidence showing the decline of honey bees as well as the causes of death and when
the causes are known, solutions are relatively easy to construct, it just takes people to
actively try to make changes.

Conclusion
There was an overall conclusion to the research question, Why honey bees are
going extinct and how do humans prevent bees from becoming extinct? It was found
that in the past 50 years, the population of honey bees has plummeted by 50 percent
and the rate of loss of bees is unsustainable to human crop consumption and plant
pollination (Tim). The honey bee population drastically plummeted in 2006, in
correlation with anthropogenic causes as well as a parasite that was introduced into the
United States (Figure 3) down to only 2,500,000 colonies in the United States. There
are many causes of the extinction of honey bees and the extinction of bees would lead
to the extinction of many species of plants and animals, including humans. Some
changes that would solve the issue of extinction of honey bees could be implementing
federal laws that protect honey bees. If the bees are recognized to be of important value
at the federal level, then people would take the issue seriously. As the USDA has
already begun, forcing or encouraging farms to grow eco-friendly crops without
pesticides or GMOs would aid in saving the bees. Encouraging most to all farms to
make this change would not only protect the bees from dying, but it would be healthier
produced for humans to harvest and consume. Reducing toxins in the environment and
pollution would be effective in bringing back the bee population because then the honey
bees would have a healthier environment to live in and would create a healthy future for
every specie on the earth. The honey bees are of great importance to humanities future
and making changes to save the bees will change the future for the better. As Albert
Einstein once remarked, Mankind will not survive the honey bees disappearance for
more than five years (Hagopian). If the bees go extinct, humans go extinct.

Works Cited
Chase, Justin. Honeybees Are Slowly Dying, Why? Captial OTC. 14 May 2015. Web.
18 April 2016.
Hadley, Debbie. 10 Possible Causes of Colony Collapse Disorder. About. 12
December 2014. Web. 18 April 2016.
Hagopian, Joachim. Death and Extinction of the Bees. Global Research. 7 March
2016. Web. 18 April 2016.
New Harvard Study Proves the Reason Why Bees Are Dying. Humans are Free.
2013. Web. 18 April 2016.
Save the Bees. Greenpeace.org. n.d. Web.18 April 2016.
Tim. The Mysterious Honey Bee Extinction. Daily Inforgraphic. 12 January 2011. Web.
18 April 2016.
Absolutely Beautiful Spring Wallpapers. Travelization. n.d. Web. 18 April 2016.