Bees.
They don't only sting you and make you honey, they are vital to ecosystems because they
are active pollenators.
But bee populations across the world are declining.
Thats according to experts at cornell university.
Bee populations in the US have declined by 60%.
In places like new york state, honey bee populations have declined from 42 to 68 percent over the
last 10 years.
Bee decline is largely to do with habitat loss and pesticide use.
But bees, like other pollenators, are essential to plant growth..
But what if, bees disappeared completely?
Thats the question we're asking right now on life's biggest questions.
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There are several reasons why bees are declining in huge numbers.
Pollution, habitat loss and pesticides to name a few.
The eurpean food safety agency confirmed that bee populations in europe are declining because
of a type of fertilizer called neonicotinoids.
The mixture of substances interferes with the learning circuits in insects brainsm which
makes them slower to learn, and also makes them completely forget basic associations
for their survival, like linking floral aroma and food.
The result is, bees are dying because they cant feed themselves.
Which is honestly, really sad.
According to the good ol' trusty interwebs, einstein once said that if bees disappeared
off the face of the earth, humans would only have 4 years left to live.
Before you go and get all freaked out, you should know that Einstein didnt say this,
and theres no evidence to suggest that he ever said it.
But just because Einstein didn't say those words, that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a
terrible thing if bees went extinct.
Pollination is extremely important to the survival of all life on earth.
Pollination happens through a pollinator, like a bee, who takes pollen from a male flower
and moves it to a female flower.
There are several different types of animals and insects that pollinate crops.
Bees, flies, butterflies, birds and even bats.
Much of the time, pollinators actually need pollen to feed their larvae, but many pollinators
are after flower nectar.
They get covered in pollen while they are eating nectar, and then they transfer it to
another flower.
Bees are especially succeptable to getting pollen stuck all over them because bees are
fuzzy.
Bees don't only pollenate flowers, they are food for several types of bird species.
If bees were suddenly to disappear, those birds would lose their source of food, and
the rest of the food chain will feel the effects as well.
Honey bees also produce honey, so if honeybees went extinct, honey would become far harder
to come by, and would become far more expensive.
Its likely that humans would start making synthetic honey to replace natural honey.
The burning question is, could humans survive without bees?
The population of earth, 7 billion people, eat around 100 crop species that provide 90
percent of the food around the world.
71 percent of those crops are pollenated by bees.
But, as i said, bees are not the only pollenators, and the majority of human food sources rely
on wind pollenation.
Crops like corn and wheat rely on wind pollenation, and would likely be unaffected if bees went
extinct.
Which means we would still have products like bread and cereal.
That being said, there are many types of produce that rely on bee pollenation.
Peaches, plums, almonds, apples and cherries rely on bees.
According to one analysis of the global crop market, pollenators are highly neccesary for
91 percent of the crops consumed by humans.
If bees disappeared, humans would likely have to find other methods of pollenation.
Likely by hand or through machinery like drones.
In china, for example, in response to the rapildly declining bee population in the country,
humans have been hand-pollenating pears in Hanyuan county.
The problem with hiring humans to pollenate crops by hand is that humans require payment
for their work, most of the time.
Bee pollenation is free.
According to graduates of MIT, the cost of humans pollenating about 2 acres of apples
would be anywhere between $5715 to 7135.
In comparison, it only costs about $45 to rent a colony of bees.
For this reason, food prices for many different crops would skyrocket.
Bees do about 11 billion to 15 billion dollars worth of work for american farmers every year.
The result would be staggering prices at the grocery store.
Like i'm talkin $16 for an apple, which normally costs 50 cents.
In the event that this happens, fresh produce will become near impossible for the working
class to purchase, leading to a steady decline in health for the poor.
Poorer individuals already consume far less fresh produce than the middle class.
If bees disappeared, we would feel the effects extremely quickly.
Within 3 months of the last bee dying, food producers would experience record low harvests.
Within 6 months, farmers would have to convert their fields to wheat or corn fields.
One year after the last bee dies, the average human diet would be very bland and boring.
To answer the question, no humans wouldn't die if the bees disappeared, but i mean, i
dont know about you guys but i really like food.
Like a lot.
Lots of fruits, lots of veggies.
Those plants are important to stay healthy.
And you also have to think about the animals that many humans eat too.
Many animals like cattle eat plants as well.
What will cattle have to eat if they can't eat plants?
Nothing, thats what, so humans won't be eating cattle anymore either.
Thankfully, measures are being taken around the world to steadily increase bee populations.
The EU has banned the use of 3 different types of pesticides that are affecting bee populations.
New types of pesticides that are non polluting are being tried, like grapefruit essential
oil or powdered sugar.
But if we dont act fast, the vast majority of the human population will be eating grains
for breakfast lunch and dinner, and as much as i love me a good piece of baguette, i'll
probably get sick of them after a couple days.
Well there you have it.
Will you miss bees if they disappear?
Let us know in the comments.
For now i'm going to wrap up this video with some comment features from my last video on
this channel, what if the earth orbited the moon.
Mr friendship – in soviet russia, moon orbits YOU.
GOOD ONE.
I love soviet russia.
Vaqeii – but if the earth orbited the moon wouldnt it be opposite day?
Yes, yes it would.
Frager hoskin – what if we colonized the ocean instead of other planets.
Maybe we would find mermaids.
Twenty one pilots at the disco – that really doesnt sound
like charlotte.