About the bees

Let’s take a break from books today, to talk about something important. This is way more important than most people are acting, actually.

I get it, there’s a lot going on right now. There’s certainly a lot going on in my life right now, and then I’m trying to get involved and help in world issues as well. At least, as much as someone armed with only a blog and a voice can. But if we don’t start paying attention to this, then the world might literally end.

I’m talking of course about the bees. We are losing our bee population rapidly, and no one seems to know why.

Over the last 15 years, we’ve been losing more bees than we can really afford to. Last year, we lost 44% of our bees worldwide. Let me repeat that number loud for the people in the back row.

We lost 44% of bees in the last year!

Now, we normally lose roughly 20% of the bee population every winter. This is considered an acceptable loss because it’s a number that the bees can rebuild when they start making baby bees. 44%, if you’re wondering, isn’t. There just aren’t enough queens making enough babies to recoup that many losses. The worst news is that we’re losing bees in the Summer as well as in the Winter. That’s really not supposed to happen. (All of this information came from the website Bee Informed. Please check it out for more terrifying bee facts.)

So, why is this important? I know a lot of people don’t even like bees. I’m not one of those people, but I get that they’re out there. I guess if you’re allergic, that’s a decent reason to dislike them.

But, here’s the thing, the world might literally not survive if we don’t find a way to save them. Because they are that essential to plants pollination.

I mean all plants. Literally all plants. You’re all grownups, I’m assuming I don’t need to tell you that plants are kind of a big deal to people who want to eat food. Any food.

Now, there are a lot of reasons we’re losing bees. Some of this is due to pesticides, sure. But the biggest issue right now is this nasty little mite called the varroa mite.

For some reason that I don’t understand, because I’m not a beekeeper, we can’t seem to keep these little suckers from spreading. Wouldn’t that be the worst of ironies, if Earth is destroyed not by an Ice Age, not by a meteorite, not by two psychopaths starting WW3 as part of an ever-increasing dick measuring contests, but by some mites killing our bees.

I’m not telling you all of this to scare you. Fear does no good, unless it motivates you to action. I’m telling you this, because there are things we can do to save the bees. And if enough of us pitch in, we can bring them back.

• You can plant bee-friendly plants, assuming you aren’t allergic and around your home is a healthy place for bees to be. Even a window box on an apartment windowsill can help. Make sure that you’re planting flowers that are native to your area. Here’s a website that will help you find some native plants that bees love.
• Don’t use pesticides if you can help it.
• Donate to a worthwhile bee conservation charity. Like this one.
  
• If you’re really down for it, and you’ve got the extra space and time, you can even put a hive in your backyard. Of course, you want to make sure that there are no ordinances against such things in your area. And make sure you have the time to do this. Here are some great articles to get you started. Mind you, I have two dogs and no intention of doing this. But if you can do it, it’s a great way to help.

The important thing here is that we all do our part. Look, I understand that we’re all busy. There’s a lot going on. Sadly, there’s a lot going on that we can’t do anything about.

But we can do something about the bees. And we need to, before it’s too late.

Josey was new in town, working two jobs and reeling from her divorce. She needed a lot of things, but most of all she needed a meeting. She finds one in the basement of her local library. But the meeting that she finds isn’t the one that she’s expecting.

Read it now.