Saturday, July 14, 2012

To Bee or not to Bee



This post is based on a documentary movie 'Vanishing Of Bees'. Before watching this film, like many, I had assumed that bees are insignificant and their only purpose is honey collection and they stung if someone approaches or disturbs them. Well, I was wrong and they are one of the most significant catalyst in the human food chain. Even the once great British empire, where the sun never set, was also ruled in colonies like beehives. A queen, Worker bees (which collect honey and water), Nurse bees (which nurture the new born and heal the injured), Guard bees (which protect the beehive from intruders) were all part of a robust and sustainable beehive. So, what's their contribution to us? No, it's not just honey but cross pollination of flowering plants. I used to wonder why nature is letting the flower plants survive if their only purpose is beauty. Well, I now get it that they survive because of their exchange of nectar (honey) for pollination by bees and insects. Wind and Insects are the carriers of pollination between flowers and of which, bees are the major carrier and the problem now is that bees are vanishing mysteriously in countries like US, India,Canada and many countries in Europe! A case has been reported that as many as two billion bees have vanished in a week and obviously died (because a bee cannot survive living outside it's own beehive). Through research it was found that this condition, which has been termed as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), is possible only because of the byproduct of human behaviour in agriculture, that is, use of pesticides.

Only a few know that pesticides in agriculture are nothing but the ingenious and business-minded transformation of usage for the abundant leftovers after the end of World War II, that is, Explosive chemicals. So, ironically, a part of the food that we eat today has traces of the same chemicals which was once used to kill human beings in war. This is even more rapid now because, the pesticides which were once sprayed over plants, are now coated over the seeds, which is to allow pesticides to become an integral part of the crop itself to kill pests. But they also become a slow poison for bees and may be to human beings in future. In addition, we no longer have true agriculture followed i.e. growing of variety of crops in neighbourhood and rotation of crops whereas what happens now is a monoculture i.e. growing of the same crop over a vast acreage and repeatedly. All these have deteriorated the immune and nervous system of bees and hence they die of disease or get mad not to return to the hives (CCD is also called as Mad bee disease). If the same continues for the next 10 years, we may have very limited fruits and vegetables but a plenty of man-made crop like corn. There is every chance that there could be a Mad Man disease, where a child does not return home. Autism is an already occurring symptom for this in human beings.

Well, I am not an environmentalist or an activist in this but my only intention out of this is awareness as knowledge is the first step in solving or avoiding a problem. Even if a few people like you read this till the end, that is a primary success of this blog and to the direct success, any one can contribute to solving this by growing or at least occasionally buying organic vegetables and fruits grown without pesticides or by maintaining a garden or at least, one flower or fruit plant in your house. Remember it is there the trade starts for the food to us. So, it is finally up to your help to bee or not to bee.