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Bees & You

Bees & You. By Michael Sorrentino Concepts of Physical Wellness PES100FG2 Mason. Why does the Bee matter?. Bees are a vital component in the pollination of fruits and vegetables; without them the human race could die out

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Bees & You

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  1. Bees & You By Michael Sorrentino Concepts of Physical Wellness PES100FG2 Mason

  2. Why does the Bee matter? • Bees are a vital component in the pollination of fruits and vegetables; without them the human race could die out • Most pesticides used by corporate farms contain neonicotinoids – thiamethoxam, clothianidin and imidacloprid; chemicals that are fatal to bees • That is why this presentation will discuss how the bee is vital to our health and why we should fight to protect it

  3. EU Protects Bees why doesn’t the US • EU banned the neonicotinoids that were shown to be killing bees • Reports released by the USDA & EPA show that both pyrethroids and neonicotinoids are causing harm to bees yet no action has been taken to limit there use

  4. If its bad for Bees, is it bad for us? • One report states that the high fructose corn syrup fed to bees by commercial beekeepers contained residues of neonicotinoid pesticides causing hives to die out • High fructose corn syrup is in plenty of foods consumed by humans, so are we being affected by the pesticides

  5. Colony Collapse Disorder & Neonicotinoids • CCD entered Japan in early 2009 affecting 25 percent of the national beekeeping association members • Neonicotinoids cause memory loss, navigation disruption, paralysis and death amongst bees • However, Jeff Pettis an entomologist at the USDA Bee Research Laboratory says it is a mistake to lay blame on a single cause

  6. Poisoned Pollen • Neonicotinoids are absorbed by plants and expressed in nectar and pollen • A study from Italy suggests that bees ingest neonicotinoids at levels 1000x higher than that in pollen or nectar via water droplets expressed from the leaves of plants grown from pesticide-coated seed

  7. Why we should care? • Sure there are other pollinators but… • Almonds rely solely on bees for pollination • Berries & Cherries rely 90% on bees for pollination • Eggplant has unknown pollination requirements but studies show that the plant suffers when not visited by the bee • Tomatoes are unable to self-pollinate at all and rely heavily on the Bumble Bee • New York’s apple crop requires 30,000 bee hives for pollination, so while the Apple could get by without the bee it would be at a tiny fraction of the current amount of fruit produced

  8. So what can we do to save the Bee? • Ban the use of neonicotinoids by corporate farms • Promote organic beekeeping methods and practices • Ban the corporate practice of shipping bees across the country to pollinate a single type of crop • Promote organic gardening methods and practices • Organic Plants + Organic Beekeeping = Happy & Healthy Bees and Organic Honey 

  9. Resources • EU Protects Bees but US Continues to Allow Neonicotinoid Pesticides • Save the Bees - Ban Neonicotinoid Pesticides • Colony Collapse Disorder: Are Potent Pesticides Killing Honeybees? • Poisoned Pollen • 6 Foods That Won't Grow if We Keep Letting Bees Die

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