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Bee Colony Collapse

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There is a lot of buzz about the Bee Colony Collapse Disorder which is, according to dictionary.com, a pathological condition which leads to a disappearance of worker bees from the hive resulting in the hive’s failure. The reason I am concerned about this topic is because human survival is tied to bee survival. Bees are responsible for ⅓ of the meals we eat, either by pollinating the fruits and vegetables that humans eat or by pollinating crops that feed animals that we eat, like cows. It is difficult to come up with a solution to this issue because there are many root causes. Bee Colony Collapse Disorder is a bigger problem than most people realize, and if it is not solved, it will have a devastating effect by taking away important food that …show more content…

To completely solve Bee Colony Collapse Disorder, we would have to solve all three of the main issues: parasites, stress caused by human activities, and pesticides. With all these issues that are causing Bee Colony Collapse Disorder, we cannot realistically solve all of them or at least not for a while. The first issue to tackle is the harmful pesticides. According to Lana Adams, “A pesticide is less harmful if it controls what we want to control and does not harm other creatures in the environment.” (Adams, 2010, paragraph 3) Simply banning the current harmful pesticides is not a solution. Pollination is required by the bees and a pesticide that is less harmful to bees, but is also effective at protecting other fruit and vegetable, needs to be created. Secondly, there needs to be a reduction in the human activities that cause stress to honey bees. One way to solve the stress of human activities is to create bee habitats that are located in isolated areas from human activity. These should still be privately- owned and operated, but function so that the bees are removed from harmful activities. Finally, the third cause for the Bee Colony Collapse Disorder is the small beetle that is invading the bee colonies and killing the bees. A solution for this has already been created; the Beetle Baffle. However, awareness of this product and its effectiveness needs to be raised to the industry. This product needs to be utilized broadly to have a positive effect on the issue and help increase bee population. In general, the Bee Colony Collapse Disorder is an issue that needs to have a heightened sense of awareness so that more of the population understands the magnitude of the problem and the solutions

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