Day 322: Honey Bee-Ess

I was reading a news email and came upon the article summary below:

What's creating a buzz... This new vaccine. Yesterday, the Agriculture Dept gave the green light to the world’s first vaccine for honeybees. For context: one-third of the global food supply relies on pollination, and healthy commercial hives are essential to secure high crop yields. But the colonies had no protection against diseases that regularly wiped them out. It really stung. Now, a biotech company has developed a vaccine containing bacteria that is ingested by the queen, deposited in her ovaries, and ultimately gives immunity to developing larvae as they hatch. It will only be available to commercial beekeepers. The developer is calling it a “breakthrough” in protecting honeybees" that can positively impact food production on a global scale.

If I had zero previous knowledge on the bee population I probably would have thought this sounded great.

But I do have a tiny bit of prior knowledge.

And it's enough to leave me feeling very disgusted and down hearted.

What the summary above conveniently fails to mention is that the honey bee population is experiencing it's steep decline and danger largely because of the agriculture industry. Specifically, the fertilizers and pesticides they have adopted and evolved over the past few decades and use widely today.

If the chemicals that are being used to treat the crops we ingest are KILLING bees, what does that say about our health?

How does pumping bees full of more chemicals actually solve the problem?

It doesn't.

It just masks the symptoms of the problem.

It just puts a Band-Aid over an ugly spot.

The solution to the problem of the declining bee population, amongst many other environmental concerns, lies with us.

It lies within our ability to truly love - ourselves, each other, and the world we live in.

Better doesn't come without change, without growing pains.

If we are unwilling do something different than what we've grown to know, we will never live in a world better than it is now.

I highly encourage you to get informed on the matters of the world that impact your life 'indirectly', because it is these areas that will ultimately cause the most damage.

Here's an article to get you started.

If you are looking for a legitimate organization to support and learn from, I strongly recommend the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). They have a proven track record of success in legal battles advocating for the environment and show no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Each of us can make a difference - no matter how small it seems.

What will you do?