MARISSA BATTAGLIA
Special to The Leader
Love chocolate and coffee? Save the bees.
You’ve probably heard about endangered animals and thought to yourself, “oh that’s sad” but moved on with your life not thinking about it again. If everyone did this, then we would be in big trouble. By “we” I mean all of the humans, animals and plants that live on this planet.
Bees have been disappearing at a rapid rate, and they’re continuing to vanish at an alarming speed. Bees are one of the most important creatures to humans and plants on Earth. They pollinate so many of our flowering plants including 70 of the top 100 human food crops.
But what is pollination? Pollination is when bees go around to flowers and transfer pollen from the anther (the male part of the flower) to the stigma (the female part of the flower).
Some plants can pollinate themselves which is known as self-pollination. For those flowering plants that cannot pollinate by themselves, bees are very important to them.
Protecting the bees is important if we want to continue the lifestyle we live. Bees keep our planet green because they provide plants with nectar. This is produced in flowers and provides the bees with energy that they need to survive.
Some crops that would disappear without bees are the following: apples, almonds, blueberries, cherries, avocados, cucumbers, onions, grapefruit, orange, pumpkins and, of course, honey.
There are a lot of easy ways to help the bees. For example, last semester Outdoor Adventure Club made “seed bombs” made from recycled newspaper with seeds inside that people can throw anywhere on soil and the seeds will grow. Another way you can help the bees is not using chemicals and pesticides to treat your lawn or garden, buying raw, local honey and planting flowers in your own yard. Also, spreading the word. Tell your friends about what is happening to the bees and come up with simple ways to help them. Awareness is the first step towards changing the world.