Queen Of The Sun

                                                                Be Essay

 Colony collapse disorder is a term used for the sudden disappearance of the honey bees. The bees are dying and there are many reasons why. There is enough food and honey, so it is peculiar to why the bees are leaving. The main causes Colony collapse disorder are pesticides, and the environment. If we do not pay attention to this, the bess will so be no more, and so would everything we get from them.

       Honey bees are so vital to all living things. These little workers can complete a huge job. Honey bees pollinate over 40 percent of the food we consume. Imagine life without the hiner bees, we would have nearly nothing to eat. If the bees die, so will other insects,and when the insects die, the flowers will die. When the flowers die, the plants will begin to die. When the plants die, birds will die, and the animals will have nothing to eat. If the animals and plants die, we will starve. The honey bees practically control all life. If they cannot complete their job, our entire ecosystem will fail. The honey bees are one the the life’s greatest nurturers and fertilizers. But that’s not the end of it. Not only do the bees complete a job, but their honey is sacred. Honey contains natural enzymes and nutrients. In fact, before we had medicines and topical treatments, people used honey for almost everything. Honey has the ability to help externally and internally.

       Bees are dying because of our careless actions. Most of the honey manufacturers are in it for the money, not for the health of our bees. We now feed the bees high fructose corn syrup to strengthen them, which is not at all  good for them. The honey bee population is also decreasing due to our genetic modification of them. Most are now realizing the negative, long term effects of manipulating nature. But that isn’t even the worst part. They really only care for the Queen Bee, which her main duty is breeding. She can carry more larvae inside her than her own weight. But the honey companies mistreat her a lot. They trap the honey bees in a tiny cage and ship them off to someplace where they get manually impregnated by the sperm that was injected to them in a science lab. So the queen bees are forced to make there own babies.

       Pesticides, parasites, and genetic modification are the main reason to why colony collapse disorder is occurring. We spray the flowers with pesticides to eliminate unwanted pests, but these chemicals are also harming the bees. We need the bees to pollinate the flowers, but now they are dying off. Genetic modification is also a big reason. They genetically modify the plant and flower seeds. When the seeds are modified, so are is the pollen. With the lack of pollen nutrients, the bees become malnourished or even poisoned for the chemicals. Parasites play a big role with the honey bee lifetime. The most known one is the varroa mite. This mite lives off the honey bee and suck it's blood, slowly killing it. The varroa mite is common in honey bees. Varroa mite infestations usually begin with the importing of bees from other countries with different standards. Bee keepers try to rid the varroa mites with chemical sprays but while attempting to kill the mites, more pests breed. The bee keepers are now trying to determine whether the bee and fight off the mite on it's own.

       We can make a change to prevent this from happening, but it wont be easy, especially not by ours self if we get communities to work together, we can improve. We can plant, become backyard beekeepers, and create a bee-friendly garden. These changes will make a better life of the bees. I believe it will be very difficult for America to open their eyes about CCD. I honestly think many just won't care. People nowadays are busy, and not a large amount of people have the time to care for the bees, but he bees care for us everyday, with nothing given in return. America will be stunned once most of our environmental life will have vanished. First, life will decrease, then, we will start losing food, lastly, we will start to die. If you really think about it, bees control everything, we just think of them as stingers, but in reality they are much more!

Queen of the Sun Response

Billy Markham
Per 4

Help the Bees

         Through watching the movie i absorbed new information which I and most of the population of earth had never heard of.  The movie revealed startling and surprising facts the directly affects everyone and yet we are still no nothing of the situation of the bees. We rely on bees for each season of crops and the season after that. Bees are the breeders of the plants and without the bees carrying pollen from flower to flower we would have no next season. Our existence is closely tied with that of the bees. A strange phenomenom has been occurring known as colony collapse where hives of bees are just found dead. Hives carry thousands of bees and thousands of hives have been found vacant and collapsed. If we don't find a way to stop the disappearance of bees then then humans to, will begin to disappear as well.

         Dangerous toxins and poisons are one of the leading attributes killing the bees. Pesticides and fertilizers used on plants directly effect the bee. It is there food source and now with these fertilizer it is a poisoned lethal food that can kill a bee. Plant pesticide can affect the bees memory causing the bee to no longer get back to the hive this happens so often mass numbers of bee have died trying to find the way back. Without enough workers to support the hive the system will fall out of balance and the colony will collapse. We have to take a step back and realize cause and effects a our actions and ask ourselves which is more important. Bees or fertilizers. Well right now fertilizers are needed to guarantee a full crop but eventually bees will decline in numbers and will no longer be there to pollenate the plants.

         A second problem is mites. Mites attach themselves to bees and slowly suck their blood ultimately killing bees. Beekeepers are going to extreme measures by using their own insecticides to kill the mites yet most mites are just adapting to overcome the toxins put in the hives. Most bee keepers are using this method but some believe in letting nature run its course pesticide free.
       A final problem that leads to colony collapse is monoculture. Large fields of a single crops might be beneficial to the bee for one season, but for the rest of the year it is a barren landscape.
         Bees are in grave danger and people need to see this. We cant just throw money at the problem, we need to be interested and get involved. Will we choose to start now and help ourselves by helping the bees or wait too long and go hungry?  If we do not wake up and smell the honey we may lose the precious bee.

Colony Collapse Disorder

The Queen of the Sun

Due to the dramatic decline in the bee population, farmers, governments, and beekeepers are now noticing why we need bees. Without bees pollinating and allowing our crops to prosper, our economy will ultimately fail. For instance, almonds, California’s largest crop, brings in a revenue of $3,897 per acre. If we did not have bees regularly visiting these crops, then California would not only lose money but its main export.  Aside from the economic impact, no one can deny the disappearance of bee colonies and yet people don’t seem to realize what this truly means. Bees have always taken care of us and this is their way of telling us we need to step it up. Unfortunately, people will not realize what they have until it’s  gone and until we suffer from some natural disaster causing us to lose bees all together, we cannot truly comprehend what colony collapse means.

Pesticide is a substance used for destroying insects or other organisms that threaten a crop. It is mainly sprayed over plants to kill insects that would otherwise consume the produce. However, by spraying this toxic chemical it is also destroying the insects that are designed to visit these plants and pollinate them. For example, as bees and butterflies move from flower to flower they are pollinating each individual to help them grow into voluptuous fruits and vegetables, without their help most rural countries would otherwise starve to death. This is an example of a non natural disaster that would cause people to realize the importance of our furry friends

Colony collapse disorder, a disorder defining the disappearance or death of bees, is a pressing issue that still remains to be recognized as a national problem. Bees in states all across America have been suffering from this, but their governments refuse to pass pesticide laws or to allow beekeeping permits easily accessible. As a result, we will lose or fresh fruits, vegetables, and all other American grown produce; causing us to turn the alternatives such as processed foods. This will inevitably increase the obesity rate all across America and making cardiovascular related deaths skyrocket. However, I would like to think that this catastrophic event would cause people to wake up and smell the unpollinated flowers but sadly I still believe that a natural disaster wiping out bees entirely would better their chance of the beeing recognize as a necessity.

Although colony collapse disorder is undeniable, people still do not understand the toll it will take humans in the long run. By using harsh chemical pesticides we not only destroy the nutritional value of California’s crops but we are contributing to the demise of the most under appreciated insect in the world. Ultimately, if we continue to treat bees in such a heinous manner we could lose them forever. However, we can help prevent this by fulfilling bees essential needs, such as flowers. By planting more flowers we not only create a better environment for ourselves but for the bees too. Since they play a key role in pollinating our fruits and vegetables, we can give back by providing them with a catering service. But in this kitchen all you need is soil, water, and a seed. Hopefully, by completing these task we will be able to save our bees.

The Bee's Crisis

Bees, the insects all of nature depends on to keep it sustainable, are now slowly disappearing. Without bees we would barely be able to eat the various amounts of food that we eat. Instead of eating tons of delicious fruits and vegetables, we would be eating porridge and some nuts. If we do not save the population of bees, it will all be gone.

What is the bee population like today? Well numbers are dropping, and have by dying in huge numbers over the past decade. The problem is that people are not noticing. The bee is considered a sacred animal, because it mainly started the human civilization. If it were not for them, we would not have as many flowers and various plants as we do today. In fact most of them would not even exist, if it weren't for them. Humans would not have fruit like apples and peaches, no nuts like almonds, or beautiful flowers like lavender or sunflowers. And the reason why the population of bees is decreasing, is because of how they are being treated.

Many bees are being transported to other countries in the world. Where they are forced to work in areas called mono-cultural farms. Mono-cultural farms, are farms that only produce one crop. For example, almond tree farms, thousands of them are contained in the farm, where the bees are forced to pollinate them. This hurts the bees, because there is not a vast variety of crops to pollinate. Not to mention, the bees are being abused with chemicals, like pesticides, that corporate farms use to create the food. It affects them by losing navigation and memory, because bees can not fight off chemicals, because their bodies are not built for that. Plus people are hurting the queen bees, by interbreeding with manufactured   sperm, which causes problems in who the bees are being produced. Naturally bees are being produced by the queen bee who flies around for about a day or so while male bees, from different hives, give her their sperm to her, so that when she gets back to the hive, she can then reproduce offspring that are bio-diversed and are perfectly healthy bees, without any manufactured problems. But many queen bees are often being produced, and then shipped to factories that inject the manufactured genes for a bee. This is unfair, because bees are being pushed to work themselves to death. Which is why the bee population is decreasing, and people need to realize the problem, and figure out a solution to save the bees.

But how can this get out to people around the world. To get them to know that this is a huge problem. There have already been documentaries, and articles to tell people, but that is not enough. To ways that it can be publicized to the world is by starvation and fascination. With starvation, countries around the world can show the people what the world is like without any bees, and raise up the food prices of the produces that were already produced. But in my opinion, that is a little to harsh, Instead countries can start a new trend of growing their own produce in their backyards which will create a healthy environment and a healthy diet. This will help the bee population and the health of people world wide.

Even though the bee population is decreasing, some people are realizing that, and are helping to restore the bees by becoming beekeepers. Today bee keeping is becoming more popular, and is now allowed to be on rooftops of city buildings since 2010. But bee keeping is not the only thing people could do to help the bee population, simply planting various flowers for bees to come in a pollinate is a great and easy way. Also, leave water in the garden by plants, because bees, like humans, get thirsty. So please help the bees, because they depend on us, and we depend on them to make our world a beautiful place.