We all know how imperative the bee’s are to our produce and environment. Honeybees pollinate more than 90 of the world’s flowering crops, including apples, nuts, broccoli, squash, citrus fruit, berries and melons.
But the bees are dying off, especially during these colder winters. The bees are subjected to parasites, pesticides, poor nutrition, disease and other unknown causes, and this is causing their colonies to die.
Because honey is still in such high demand the bee’s are factory farmed, victims of unnatural living, genetic manipulation and stressful transportation. Their lives are tampered with in order to keep honey being produced and money being made.
As the occurrence “swarming” (the division of the hive upon the birth of a new queen) is bad for honey production beekeepers have ways to deal with this. They clip the wings of a new queen, kill and replace an older queen after just one or two years, and confine a queen who is trying to begin a swarm.
Bees need their honey for nourishment during the winter. As climate change proliferates and we are subjected to colder winters, the bees are in increaseing danger of extinction. Bees also rely on pollen from flowers for sustenance, but as the cold weather affects spring crops, there are fewer flowers for honeybees to feed on when they come out of hibernating for the winter.
Industrial beekeepers want consumers to believe that they honey produced for the market is just a natural byproduct of the necessary pollination provided by honeybees. However, honeybees are not actually as good as pollination as many truly wild bees are. According to One Green Planet, “A worker bee may visit up to 10,000 flowers in one day, yet in his or her lifetime produce only one teaspoonful of honey”.
So, we know bees are in danger due to the colder winters and also harmful pesticides, parasites and poor nutrition as a result from the factory farms they are kept in. So, if you aren’t a beekeeper, and you love the taste of honey, what can you do to help?
Here are some ideas:
- Support local beekeepers, not big factory farms.
- Buy honey-free, cruelty-free beauty products.
- Try Vegan Honey or Bee-Free Honey
- Plant bee-friendly Australia Plants in your backyard (click here to find out what plants http://www.aussiebee.com.au/flowerslovedbybees.html )