Blog Post 1

        I watched Marla Spivak's TED talk on bees. I was interested in the topic because I had heard rumors of bees disappearing before. Interestingly enough, I heard of the topic for the first time on an episode of Doctor Who- while I recognized that giant bees from space could pose a certain problem, I did take the time to think about the consequences of losing our most important pollinators. All I knew about bees had come from children's books and National Geographic documentaries, so I understood the basic structure of the hive, their general role in pollination, and their use of movements and 'dances' to communicate plans to other members of the hive.
        What I didn't realize was how much I personally needed bees. Without bees, I have no fruits, no vegetables, no cocoa beans to make chocolate ice cream. People seem to believe that bees exist to help us grow food. It's not true- bees are creatures just trying to get by and survive. They pollinate for their own good, not for ours. We took advantage of their ability and used it for our own purposes.  Every colony is made up of approximately 50,000 individual bees. I had no idea how they could be in so much danger with tens of thousands of hives around the world. After World War Two, farming styles changed, and that seems to be the root of the problem. Bees have lived and thrived for millions and millions of years- why would they start to die off now? The answer I found was pesticides. Since crops have expanded since the end of the war, synthetic pesticides and manmade crop cultures like GMOs have made their way into the collective systems of plants that bees need to survive.
           The harmful pesticide that I am most familiar with is the neonicotinoid. Neonicotonoids make up a large percentage of pesticides used on crops like corn, wheat, and fruit. I knew that pesticides and other chemicals were prevalent in our foods but I had no idea of the effect they had on wildlife and insect life in particular. After really thinking about it, I realized that I don't see very many bees back home. I live in Albany, New York- near the Adirondacks, and there's usually tons of bees around. Recently when my family and I went camping, my brother made a remark about how he felt better going into the woods with less bees around. I didn't expect to find this topic so interesting, but now I'm considering writing my paper about bees because I think they get a bad reputation. When people think of bees, they think of stingers and epipens and allergic reactions. People don't think about how much bees really rule their lives. Without them, there would be a lot less vegetarians, vegans, and vegetables in general.
          I'm not sure how much I personally could solve this issue, but I would really like to make it known, and help people understand how this is a topic they will want to support. I may be afraid of getting stung, but I realize how much better it is to live in a world with bees.