How Do Honey Bees Affect Our Society

The first law of Ecology states, “everything is connected.” Meaning each species depends on another species for survival. Humans for instance, depend on the survival of animals and plants to literally feed our ever growing population. Our diet comes down to small, overlooked organisms such as the honeybee. Without honeybees, the majority of fruits and vegetables would be diminished. Albert Einstein supposedly once said, "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination ... no more men!".
Common pesticides are key factors in the declining bee population and colony collapse disorder. A disorder where seemingly healthy bees abandoned the hive, leaving the queen
and young behind. The disorder is believed to be caused by a combination of factors including pesticide, invasive parasites such as the varroa mite, or an inadequate food supply. Such pesticides used on crops include neonicotinoids, a class of neuroactive pesticides similar to nicotine. Even the companies that produce neonicotinoid pesticides don’t deny they are poisonous to bees if the pesticide is sprayed onto crops where bees forage. Unlike contact pesticides, which stay on the surface of the plant, neonicotinoids taken up through the root of the plant and into the stem, leaves and flowers where the toxin can remain throughout the growing season. Farmers aren’t the only ones who use these pesticides, they can be found in products used to treat lawns, houseplants and indoor greenhouses. Honeybees face repeat exposure to small doses of neonicotinoid pesticide in their food sources. Theses small does in pollen and nectar collected by the honeybees can impair the social health of the insect, including disruption in foraging behaviour, navigation, communication, reproduction and larval development.
Many fruits, vegetables and crops rely on bees for pollination.
What is pollination? It is the transfer of pollen from the anther, the male portion of the flower, to the stigma, the female portion of the flower. Once this transfer is completed, the plants seed, nut or flower will begin to form. Nearly one third of crops around the world are pollinated by bees, crops such as kiwi, almonds, cherries, grapes, tomatoes, blueberries, alfalfa etc. In the past 50 some years, the population of honey bees has decreased to about half. Without these little critters, we will lose the majority of our produce crops, the lack of supply would dramatically increase prices. The lack of clover, a crop bees rely on as an important source to produce nectar, would mean a loss in the key part in the bees honey-making diet. Honey is used in the cosmetic industry, to produce moisturizer in creams, soaps, and shampoos. Other oil seeds which depend on/benefit from the pollination of bees like sunflower, cotton, and coconut which depend on or benefit from bee pollination would also be diminished, eliminating more than half of the world's diet of fat and oil. Cotton alone makes up around 35% of the world's total material fiber use and is the leading cash crop in the southern United States. Without cotton, we would no longer have clothing and everyday items like blue jeans, shoe laces, towels, and paper products. Across the world, alfalfa fields will die off, meaning beef and dairy cows will starve
considering alfalfa crops are most commonly harvested as hay to feed cattle. If there is a small amount of milk, then there will be a shortage of other dairy products such as yogurt and cheese and again, cost would increase.
However pigs would not suffer greatly since they eat mainly grains.
Grains, like wheat, rice, and corn wouldn't be greatly affected since these crops rely largely on wind pollination. All species, in some way shape or form, rely on other species, “everything is connected”. If one species is taken from this world, there will be a chain of events that follows, similar the the butterfly effect. If an organism such as the honeybee is removed, multiple species humans live off of like plants and animals will also die
off.