Be amazed by bees

A bee on a flower in the sunshine

Eating fresh raspberries this morning I got to wondering about bees.  Birds and bees jokes aside, I never realised back when younger just how essential bees are.  I have always loved honey and use it in smoothies and recipes do not require heating the honey.  I see it as a very precious, sacred food and has many, many health benefits, not only for us but the bees, the essential little producers of honey, have benefits for our planet, without them we would be toast, and have to live on eating toast too, most likely.

Honey produced in New Zealand from bees that have pollinated the Manuka bushes is world renown for being particularly healing and has  been used to treat MRSA.  Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the nasty hospital bug that seems to be on the increase, not only in hospitals but now our homes too, and perhaps is indicative of how we treat our homes and earth?  I blame the crazy obsession with antibacterial cleansers and the move away from nature.  I learnt that even mouse mats can be bought anti-bacterialised!

Bees are vital, as you may well know, to pollinate plants and flowers.  Our food depends on bees.  Yet a plastic packet in a supermarket does tend to divide consumer from farmer and thus our awareness, of how essential bees are, has waned.  The picture above shows the bee, I was fortunate enough to photograph the other day, with its pollen sacks on its side rather like a pair of bicycle saddle bags.  I photographed the bee as it was flitting from flower to flower, in the June sunshine, collecting pollen.  This pollen collecting is a crucial role in our fruits, flowers and vegetables growing.  Yet an article, in Green magazine, said recently that bees are disappearing at an alarming rate in the USA.  I also know that in New Zealand; a ski instructing friend who happens to be a bee keeper in Summer said that the Varroa virus is causing serious damage to the NZ bee population.  The Varroa virus causes deformities to the bees wings.

Bee in British Columbia, Canada

The USA bee decline is a very serious issue, it has been said that it is CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes the bees to just abandon their hives and die.  It almost feels like the the bees have given up, got so despondent that they go away and die.  It is actually not something that we can ignore.  Our diets would be very dull without fruits and vegetables.  Imagine never being able to buy an apple or a blueberry, or broccoli?  We may not eat enough but I can guarantee every man and his dog would want to eat an apple when they can’t buy one, after bees die out.

I feel bees are rather like a warning signal, guiding us to take note.  The world is giving, those who listen, many warning signals, sadly those who are listening are still in the minority.  Agriculture in the US is now more agribusiness and the connection between animals and those given the role to care for them appears to have been taken over by multinationals with a share holder objective.  Thus when our very food production is a business, shaving off a one cent additional cost is considered viable and invariably it is the animals and planet that suffers.

There is a film being produced which is going to be premiered in London in October, which is all about CCD and the decline of the honey bee in the United States of America.  Vanishing Bees is a movie that highlights where we are with bees, just how fragile our ‘next-day delivery’ world is and how, unless something is done, we might be resigned to a life of eating rice.

The movie is post-production and funding is in need of an injection to get the movie to our screens.  If you are in a position or feel passionate about helping, what I see as one of the most important films in a long time get finalised, then I urge you to donate.  Their website is VanishingBees.com and I have attached it to my links on the right, I sent a cheque but you can donate through paypal or with a credit card.

What did you eat for breakfast?  Fruit?  Without bees, it would have to be rice.