Einstein: If Honeybees Disappear, Man Will Disappear Within Four Years

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, "If the bee disappears off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left." For the sake of argument I am assuming he was referring to the domestic honeybee. I have a different opinion. He was a scientific genius, but I do believe he was wrong in this instance. First, we need some background information. By now, most people are aware of the mystery of the disappearing honeybees. The owner checks the hive and lo and behold, the bees are missing. There are no bees left or just the queen and a very few bees. Usually there are no bodies and every mystery fan knows that without a body, it is very hard to solve the mystery, even with the most modern scientific procedures. Some times it is just the worker bees who have left. Did they just become weary of being exploited while the drones just sat around and got fat and lazy? Not likely, because they are programmed by nature be as "busy as a bee," collecting pollen all day and returning home without fail. This information is from the Guardian article, "Last Flight of the Honeybee?"

Bees are renowned for their ability to find their way home at distances of up to two miles, so is something interfering with their navigation system? According to the Guardian article, bee owner Dave Hackenberg believes that, "It's those new neonicotinoid pesticides that growers are using." "That's what's messing up the bees' navigation system so they can't find their way home." Some researchers also believe mite and virus infestation are major factors.

The article also says, "Tests have shown that the pesticides Hackenberg refers to can interfere with the bees' communication and orientation skills, and also impair memory."

40 Billion Honeybees: One-half of the U.S. Bee Population is Needed to Pollinate the California Almond Crop.

I was also amazed to learn the story of the California almond crop from the article. California's Central Valley is home to 60 million almond trees that extend for 400 miles and produce about 80% of the world's supply of almonds. They must be pollinated by bees to produce the nuts. This massive task requires about one half of the honey bee population of our entire country. I know the Monarch butterflies fly to their annual convention in Mexico, but I don't believe we could train 40 billion honeybees to travel to California for the Almond Pollination Festival, therefore it is necessary to load one-half of our honeybee population on about 2000 semi-trailers with about 500 hives each, and transport them to the Central Valley. They come from as far away as Florida.

Quite Often Man tries to Improve Upon and Manipulate Nature Which Sometimes has 'Unintended Consequences.'

Keeping the bees in a warm climate such as Florida, is one method of manipulation of the bees. Bees kept in colder climates are not expected to work in February. By keeping them in a warmer climate, they are tricked into believing spring has arrived and they are prepared psychologically for their February stint in California.

Also from the article, some researchers think stress is a factor in the CCD problem. The long, rough rides around the country combined with the extra-long season can be very stressful and perhaps weaken the bees' immune system and possibly making them susceptible to whatever problem is decimating their ranks. "After Hackenberg's bees have pollinated the almonds in California, they head north to the apple orchards of Washington State, then east for the cranberries and pumpkins, before reaching Maine in May to pollinate blueberries."

A California bee broker is quoted as saying bees cannot get their proper sleep during all the time they spend traveling.

Quoting a Leahy Institute article "___researchers have observed that there is an unusual avoidance of the abandoned hive by invading robbers like waxworm moths, hive beetles, and other bees, suggesting the presence of a lingering toxic substance." That would seemingly point a finger at pesticides as the culprit.

With all due respect to Mr. Einstein, I doubt that if all the domestic honeybees completely disappeared, that it would also cause the disappearance of man. The history of man shows that he is inclined to wait much too long before seriously attacking a problem. Billions of honeybees have disappeared but we are still coping with the shortage. Rental fees have reached $140 per hive. First, some of the bees may be resistant to the problem and won't disappear. The business has become overly dependent on the Italian strain of the honeybee for various reasons. If they did disappear, there are other strains of honeybees around the world which, although they may not have the desirable qualities of the Italian bee, could still do a satisfactory job of pollination. It would not be a catastrophe if we had to make do with less honey, if the bees did their job of pollination. Hopefully, they would not be as aggressive as the infamous "killer bees."

There are many other insects that pollinate plants. According to Wikipedia, "There are roughly 200,000 varieties of animal pollinators in the wild, most of which are insects. Entomophily, pollination by insects, often occurs on plants that have developed colored petals and a strong scent to attract insects such as, bees, wasps and occasionally ants, moths and butterflies, and flies."

A large percentage of the pollination is done by honeybees, therefore if they suddenly disappear, there would be a shortage of the crops that are so dependent on honeybee pollination that they require mass importation of honeybees from around the country. The 200,000 species of other animal pollinators are not available in sufficient numbers to do the job.

Modern Corporate Farming Methods are Not Bee-Friendly

A large part of the problem is the 'monoculture' method of farming adopted by large commercial farms which raise very large fields of one crop. The wild species of pollinating insects are not available in sufficient numbers in that locality, because when the one crop passes the blooming phase, the wild species need a constant supply of other blooming plants to supply food for them all summer. The smaller family farm of yesteryear did not have this problem. They raised a wide variety of crops and fruit trees in much smaller plots. This variety of blooming plants and the plentiful growth of wild blooming plants along fence rows, in meadows, pasture fields and woodlots provided a steady supply of food for the wild supply of insects. The much smaller fields meant they were always near the crops which needed pollination.

Another factor is that before the widespread application of chemical weedkillers, even cornfields had a plentiful supply of blooming weeds which provided food for the wild pollinators. Chemical weedkillers kill cornfield weeds which increases the corn yield but further reduces the supply of food for the wild insect pollinators.

We Need a Bug-Friendly Environment

The answer to increasing the supply of wild insect pollinators is to set aside plots of ground near the crops which need pollination, to furnish a constant food supply for the insects. We need to co-operate with nature instead of constantly changing natural ecological patterns for our own convenience. In other words, we need a bug-friendly environment.

A lot of plants are self-pollinated or cross-pollinated by the wind. These would be fine with no bees. Undoubtedly we would really miss the bees, but man has always been very ingenious and adaptable. Several crops would be much harder to raise and some could probably not be raised on a commercial scale. Hot house tomatoes are raised even now without honeybees, by using a specie of bumblebee for pollination. We would develop more disease-resistant strains of bees and better manage our wild insect resources. The science of genetically altering plants might allow us to develop more plants that would be self-pollinating or cross-pollinating. We might decide that we need to use fewer and safer insecticides which would be good for us and the bees. Again, with all due respect to Mr. Einstein, I have little doubt that man would survive the demise of the present version of the honeybee or even all honey bees.

"Pollination"/Wikipedia

John Leahy/"Honey Bee Colony Collapse in Rensseelaer County"/Leahy Institute.

Alison Benjamin/Last Flight of the Honeybee?/Guardian,co,uk