Happy 50th Anniversary of Earth Day! While all the attention is currently on human inhabitants of our planet and how to protect ourselves from illness and death, according to scientists, we are not the most important living creatures. This designation goes to the humble little honeybee and other wild bees. Our continued existence is directly tied to theirs, and they are currently disappearing at alarming rates. Recently, two beekeepers in my neighborhood announced that their bees did not survive due to exposure to garden pesticides! This was a shocker to me given that I live in one of the country's most environmentally aware regions but even here apparently some home gardeners aren't aware that when pesticides are sprayed on blooming flowers and a foraging bee visits those flowers, they take the toxic chemicals back to their hives and infect the entire community....very similar to community spread of Covid-19 in the human population. If we lose the honeybee and other wild pollinating bees, we will lose our food supply. If you have a garden, please "bee aware" of the danger of using pesticides. Also, please leave a few tasty dandelions for them! Honeybees must visit about 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey!
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