The Bees Knees

So I overheard the other day that without bees, the planet would be a very different place. In fact, we would all probably be dead. Part of helping the environment, reducing carbon footprints and lowering the rate of climate change is paying attention to our animal and inset friends. Anyone into organic farming, buying local, fresh food, raw foods and natural ingredients has to know a little about bees.

So here are my green facts about bees.

They provide us with food. Every season, honey bees go out looking for their favorite thing: pollen. In the process they pollinate plants and flowers, providing us with crops to eat, pretty flowers to look at and more green things to eat up the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Bees can be used to grow organic honey and aid developing countries in lowering their carbon emissions and provide jobs for the unfortunate.

Bees are essential for the production of useful organic things like honey, beeswax, candles, soap, floor polish, creams and lotions and the vitamin supplement royal jelly.

Bees can increase domestic sustainability. By having a beehive in your backyard, you can reduce your consumer carbon footprint and make your own honey and candles. Homemade honey is much better for the bees and the environment.

So bees are cool and they only really sting when threatened or fighting for their life. Bees are our friends, our buddies, our planetary companions.

But we are killing them with global warming, pesticides, over development of land and the destruction of their natural habitat. Farming is great but organic, pesticide free farming that leaves land for the insects to live in is the only kind of farming that can reduce carbon emissions.

So there you have it. Bees are an integral part of our world but we are destroying them with carbon emissions and pollution. It’s just one more reason to buy carbon credits and offset your carbon footprint. And purchasing a jar or two of organic honey wouldn’t do any harm either.