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Questions & Answers About Our Environment
Dear EarthTalk: What is causing the dramatic decline in honeybee populations in the U.S. and elsewhere in recent years, and what is being done about it?
— James Harris,
Akron, Ohio
Kids everywhere may revel in the fact that bees are no longer stinging them as frequently on playgrounds and in backyards, but the decline in honey bee populations in the U.S. and elsewhere signals a major environmental imbalance that could have far-reaching implications for our agricultural food supply.
Brought here from Europe in the 1600s, honeybees have become widespread across North America and are bred commercially for their abilities to pollinate crops—90 different farm-grown foods including many fruits and nuts depend on them—and produce honey. But in recent years populations across the continent have plummeted by as much as 70 percent, and biologists are still scratching their heads as to why and what to do about the problem which they have termed “colony collapse disorder” (CCD).
Many believe that our increasing use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, which bees ingest during their daily pollination rounds, are largely to blame. Commercial beehives are also subjected to direct chemical fumigation at
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