Ramirez 1

Eric Ramirez
Ross Romero

Bee Facts
FACT SHEET:
Argument:
We need to stop killing bees.

URLs for sources:
1) http://www.globalresearch.ca/death-and-extinction-of-the-bees/5375684
2) http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140502-what-if-bees-went-extinct
3) http://sos-bees.org/
4) http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/files/bees.pdf
5) http://climatelle.blogspot.com/2012/04/busy-bees-pesticides-and-huge-price-of.html

General Overview
I want to show evidence showing if we keep killing bees eventually they will come to an end.

Specific Facts on the issue:
- Mankind will not survive the honeybees disappearance for more than five years. (1)
- They are critical pollinators: they pollinate 70 of the around 100 crop species that feed 90% of
the world. (2)
-Honey bees are responsible for $30 billion a year in crops. (2)
-Thats only the start. We may lose all the plants that bees pollinate, all of the animals that eat
those plants and so on up the food chain. Which means a world without bees could struggle to
sustain the global human population of 7 billion. Our supermarkets would have half the amount
of fruit and vegetables. (2)
-Since the late 1990s, beekeepers around the world have observed the mysterious and sudden
disappearance of bees, and report unusually high rates of decline in honeybee colonies. (3)
-Without bees to spread seeds, many plantsincluding food cropswould die off. (4)
-Many pesticides banned by other countries because they harm bees are still available in the
United States. (4)
- In the UK, it would cost 1.8 billion every year to hand-pollinate crops without bees (5)
-Costly hand-pollination is already being used in parts of the world, notably pear trees in
Hanyuan County, China, where native bee populations have been wiped out by a combination of
loss of their natural habitat and intensive farming. (5)


Possible Solutions:
-To protect our bees and agriculture we need to shift from destructive industrial agriculture
towards ecological farming. First and important steps are: 1. Ban all bee-harming pesticides 2.
Adopt a bee-action plan 3. Promote ecological farming (3)



Works Cited
Hagopian, Joachim. Death and Extinction of the Bees. 28 March 2014. Global Research. 10
September 2014. <http://www.globalresearch.ca/death-and-extinction-of-the-bees/5375684>

BBC. What would happen if bees went extinct?. 4 May 2014. BBC. 10 Sept. 2014.
<http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140502-what-if-bees-went-extinct>

Greenpeace. The Bees in Decline. 2014. Greenpeace. 10 Sept. 2014 <http://sos-bees.org/>

Sass, Jennifer. Why we need Bees: Natures Tiny Workers put food on Our Tables. March
2011. Natural Resources Defence Council. 11 Sept. 2014.
<http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/files/bees.pdf>

Moore, Veronica. Busy bees, pesticides and the huge price of hand-pollination. 12 April 2012.
The Insect Nerve-Agents. 12 Sept. 2014. <http://climatelle.blogspot.com/2012/04/busy-bees-
pesticides-and-huge-price-of.html>