The Buzz: Six Reasons Not To Worry About The Bees

Henry I. Miller

Bees are in the news, but for all the wrong reasons—mainly, dire tales of disappearing bees threatening a third of our food supply. Time Magazine, opting for sensationalism over accuracy, said we were headed toward “A world without bees,” with an online video explaining, “Why bees are going extinct.” They called it the “beepocalypse” and blamed it all on modern agricultural technologies, urging immediate and aggressive action before it’s too late.

This would be scary stuff indeed—if it were true. But like so many overly simplistic, sky-is-falling claims, these predictions are misleading and false. Activist groups like Loonies of the Earth—sorry, I mean Friends of the Earth—and the Pesticide Action Network work tirelessly to provide the media a steady stream of suitable doom-and-gloom material that they and other groups then use for “save the bees” fundraising opportunities.

Bees are popular, even iconic. The public naturally wants them to survive, but it simply isn’t true that honeybees are about to disappear–so they don’t need “saving.” The truth about the bees turns out to be far more complex, and far more interesting, than the alarmist headlines suggest.

1. There are billions more bees than a decade ago.....
2. Bees are always dying–and reproducing–at an “alarming” rate.....
3. Bees are livestock, just like cattle.....
4. Crop pesticides aren’t killing honeybees.....
5. Beekeepers are sometimes the bees’ worst enemy.....
6. Bees are responsible for one-fourteenth of our food, not one-third.....

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