1. PPT-37 Green Earth Movement An E-Newsletter for the cause of Environment, Peace, Harmony and Justice Remember - “you and I can decide the future” HONEY BEES AND ENVIRONMENT

2. Why We Need Bees: Nature’s Tiny Workers Put Food on Our Tables

3. Many people think of bees simply as a summertime nuisance. But these small and hard-working insects actually make it possible for many of your favorite foods to reach your table. From apples to almonds to the pumpkin in our pumpkin pies, we have Bees to thank.

4. Bees are one of a myriad of other animals, including birds, bats, beetles, and butterflies, called pollinators. Pollinators transfer pollen and seeds from one flower to another, fertilizing the plant so it can grow and produce food.

5. Some 250,000 species of flowering plants depend on bees for pollination. Many of these are crucial to world agriculture. Bees increase the yields of around 90 crops, such as apples, blueberries and cucumbers by up to 30%, so many fruits and vegetables would become scarce and prohibitively expensive.

6. Bees Keep Our Economy Humming. More than $15 billion a year in U.S. crops are pollinated by bees, including apples, berries, cantaloupes, cucumbers, alfalfa, and almonds. U.S. honey bees also produce about $150 million in honey annually. But fewer bees means the economy takes a hit:

7. The global economic cost of bee decline, including lower crop yields and increased production costs, has been estimated at as high as $5.7 billion per year.

8. Keeping bee populations safe is critical for keeping American tables stocked with high-quality produce and our agriculture sector running smoothly.

9. Bees Are Disappearing Around the World Beekeepers first sounded the alarm about disappearing bees in the United States in 2006. Seemingly healthy bees were simply abandoning their hives en masse, never to return.

10. Now, a condition known as Colony Collapse Disorder is causing bee populations to plummet, which means these foods are also at risk. In the United States alone, more than 25 percent of the managed honey bee population has disappeared since 1990.

11. Researchers are calling the mass disappearance Colony Collapse Disorder, and they estimate that nearly one-third of all honey bee colonies in the United States have vanished. The number of hives in the United States is now at its lowest point in the past 50 years.

12. What’s Causing Colony Collapse Disorder Researchers think this Colony Collapse Disorder may be caused by a number of interwoven factors:

13. 1] Global warming, which has caused flowers to bloom earlier or later than usual. When pollinators come out of hibernation, the flowers that provide the food they need to start the season have already bloomed.

14. 2] Pesticide use on farms. Some toxic pesticides meant to kill pests can harm the honey bees needed for pollination. Many pesticides banned by other countries because they harm bees are still available in the United States.

15. 3] Habitat loss brought about by development, abandoned farms, growing crops without leaving habitat for wildlife, and growing gardens with flowers that are not friendly to pollinators.

16. 4] Parasites such as harmful mites: The deadly link between the worldwide collapse of honeybee colonies and a bloodsucking parasite has been revealed by scientists. They have discovered that the mite has massively and permanently increased the global prevalence of a fatal bee virus.

17. How We Can Protect Bees 1] Policy makers must take action to protect the bees and other pollinators that help keep fresh food on our table.

18. 2] Farmers must be rewarded for practices that help wild bee populations thrive, such as leaving habitat for bees in their surrounding fields, alternating crops so bees have food all year long, and not using harmful pesticides. Assistance should be provided to farmers who plan to support a wider variety of pollinators beyond just bees.

19. 3] Bee research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must be strengthened, and must also be broadened to include research on pollinators besides honey bees.

20. 4] An Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques should be used to minimize pesticide use and risk to bees.

21. India is at high risk Agricultural economies like India are at high risk from the bee decline. Of the 160 million hectares (ha) cropped area in India, some 55 million ha depends on honeybees for pollination. Without them India’s food production will reduce by one-third, he cautioned.

22. A warming climate and the loss of natural areas to meet the demands of tourism are driving Indian bee colonies to the brink, imperilling an essential food source.

23. Separate colonies of thousands of bees lived in harmony, producing large quantities of honey from the vast array of plants. But a change in rainfall patterns is now causing droughts that are wiping out some tree and flower species. This, combined with the tourism that is prompting development in once natural areas, has led to a collapse in the numbers of bees, which scientists say help to pollinate 18% of 86 tree species and 22% of the shrubs in Nilgiris.

24. “Instead of visiting the natural flowers, the bees are attracted more by the sugary rich residue in the cups and use it as an alternative food resource,” These cups are death traps for the bees, which are trapped in the sticky liquid and cannot fly out to safety. During his research, he recorded the death of nearly 170 bees a day at a single beverage shop.

25. Plantation of flowering plants, cutting down the use of chemicals in agriculture and promoting organic farming were some of the measures suggested by the experts to save honey bees from extinction.

26. To conclude with a quote :

27. This educational PowerPoint Presentation (editable) is prepared by GEM Team (courtesy: internet). For other similar GEM PowerPoint Presentations on various environmental issues see next slide. These PPTs may be downloaded from our website www.infantjesusjogeshwari.in The GEM PPTs can be creatively used for various groups like school/college students, NGOs, government officials, Church groups, SCC groups, housing society members and so on.

28. 1. Twenty Simple Tips 2. Solar Energy 3. Junk Food 4. Plastic – a boon or bane? 5. Green Passion 6. Zero Garbage 7. Soft drink – A Health Hazard 8. Waste to energy 9. Rain Water Harvesting 10. Eco-friendly Religions 11. Happy Green Diwali 12. Climate Change 13. The future of Biodiversity 14. Genetically Modified Foods 15. Waste Water Treatment 16. Body, Organ, Tissue Donation 17. Organic Farming 18. Waste to cooking gas 19. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle 20. Protect Mangroves 21. Say NO to Bottled water 22. Save Lakes and Ponds 23. Forests are green lungs 24. Coal Mining and Ecology 25. Sin of Food Waste 26. Climate change and Poverty 27. Stop Water Pollution 28. Carbon Footprints 29. Parks and Open Spaces 30. Rising Sea Levels 31. Laudato Si – Pope’s Encyclical 32. Air Pollution 33. Life Style Changes 34. Laudato Si – Fr Gerard 35. Water Pollution 36. Sand Mining 37. Bees and Environment

29. For Free GEM E-Newsletters visit – www.infantjesusjogeshwari.in. Go to GEM section, click GEM E-NEWSLETTERS