Bee Afraid, Bee Very Afraid
The wee honey bee: a minor annoyance to most, a phobia for some, and an integral part of our food chain to those in the know. Without these pollinators, we would also be without almonds, broccoli, watermelon, peppers, cucumbers, squash, carrots, tomatoes, apples, strawberries…I could go on.
So why the apiology lesson? Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the mysterious condition that swiftly kills entire hives at a time—along with mites, other diseases, and still other unidentified stressors—have become a miniature example of what may befall us humans, if we don’t start recognizing how we’re jeopardizing our health.
How did we doom the bees? First, by poisoning them with chemicals: pesticides, herbicides, and miticides (for their own diminutive parasites). Natural habitat loss and migratory beekeeping, which exposed the insects to new diseases and mites, along with the stresses of traveling across the country via train or semi, also contributed to the weakening. (Not to mention how we’re exploiting the innocent honey bee in our quest for more honey, higher crop yields, and ever more popular products such as beeswax candles, bee pollen, and royal jelly, without fairly compensating them or even ensuring their safety…but that’s another story. Perhaps I could title it, The Smallest Sweatshop. Sweat-hive?)
I’m going to take it one step further. Ready? We are the bees. We’re killing ourselves, as we are killing the bees. The sudden, premature extinction of literally trillions of bees in the past few years might just foreshadow our own, slower path toward self-destruction. The chemicals in our environment are gradually causing cancers and conditions, a slow-motion version of the CCD wipeouts. We consume antibiotics and drugs to combat our maladies, many un- or under-tested before being cleared to be used on ourselves and our children. Just scratch the surface of our daily chemical exposure: preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, cleaning products, and flame retardants. And don’t forget that great intangible: stress. Slowly bearing down, wearing us down, blunting our immune systems and aiding the spread and speed of disease.