If you follow me on any social media, you have probably seen that I talk a lot about saving the bees. This has become a really important topic for me and I honestly have no idea why besides the fact that I love animals.

Saving the bees is a lot more important than most of you think. Bees pollinate flowers, plants and crops and if they did not pollinate these crops, we would have very little food. They are a huge part of our agricultural system and contribute about $15 billion to crop value, and that is just in the United States. Without bees, almonds, avocados, apples, watermelon and even coffee would not exist, and I know that a big majority of students at our school would not be able to function without their morning coffee.  

We need to start helping the bee population because if they go, we go. Humans are destroying wild habitats and creating climate change which is a major part of why bees are dying. Bees are being killed by the use of pesticide in the environment. For example, millions of bees died this week in South Carolina due to humans spraying pesticide in hopes to kill the spread of Zika. Although killing mosquitoes that are spreading this virus would be beneficial in hope that the dangerous virus would stop infecting people, this pesticide raid was not beneficial in the sense that millions of valuable bees died this week because of careless humans. We need to be more careful in what we do in the environment to help save the lives of the bees that help us live.

Now, if you’re wondering how you can help bring up the bee population, here are some ideas: plant flowers outside your house or in your neighborhood and don’t put pesticide on them, or consider becoming a backyard beekeeper. You can also help by buying clothing or jewelry involving bees from companies that give some or all of their profits to organizations that are helping to save bees. Bumblebay.com is a great t-shirt company that donates 10 percent of their profit towards saving the bees. The Bumble Bee Co. is also a great place to buy bracelets, as they donate a portion of their proceeds to Greenpeace, a people-powered movement fighting for a green future for our animals, forests, oceans, and environment as a whole.

Even though you think your impact may be little when you plant a flower, you are making a huge difference to many bees in your area. So the next time that you see a bee and try to swat it down and kill it, remember the impact they have us as humans and our world. Remember that they fuel the coffee you bring to school every day. Remember that to stay alive, we need to save the bees.