Honey bees are nearing extinction because of the use of pesticides and herbicides. Herbicides are toxic substances that destroy unwanted vegetation. People often use herbicides because the vegetation is invasive, or just takes up space and destroys their crops. Unfortunately, most of the unwanted plants bees depend on for survival. Pesticides focus on destroying unwanted insects, normally the ones that eat their crops, or make them toxic. When bees land on the plants that have been sprayed, they die, or become developmentally delayed. They are a key part of our society, and in order to prevent their extinction, gardeners, farmers, even the average person should focus on lessening their use of pesticides. Nearly 90% of all wild plants depend on pollination. Bees also pollinate people's food. About every three bites a person eats is something pollinated. Bees pollinate everything, from apples to coffee, to eggplant and to vanilla. They are a fundamental part of our society. We would not be able to survive as happily as we do now without the comfort of bees.

Colony Collapse disorder is a disorder that has been a large problem for bees. CCD makes the majority of the worker bees abandon the hive, leaving behind the queen, a couple of nurse bees to take care of the immature ones, and plenty of food. CCD clouds their judgement and they often get lost. CCD makes them lose connection with the hive and the other worker bees. When bees try to come back to the hive they are often very disoriented and die away from the hive, or they find the hive and die at the base of their queen in a drunken state. Because of this disorder, many bees have died. This disorder was first noticed in 2006, and was thought to be a long standing threat to bees health, but the occurrence of this disorder in hives has declined. Hives can’t survive without the worker bees, so many hives have died.

There are many different hypotheses on why CCD is occurring, but most scientists agree that parasites and/or pesticide are main factors.

You can help decrease the amount of bees affected by pesticides by using less pesticides. Using less pesticides will not only help bees from going extinct, but will also increase our food supply. Bees pollinated many of our foods, and without their help, our food supply would decrease. Pesticides are also a very likely cause for CCD, and we should not abandon our bees just like they do to their queen. Another thing that will help would be to plant more bee-friendly plants. Some examples are: Coneflowers, Sunflowers, Oregeno, Ironweed, Swamp milkweed and many more.

“If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than 4 years to live.”
        -Albert Einstein