Poisons Mean Extinction: For Bees and Humanity

"Let us together as diverse species and diverse cultures and through poison free organic food and farming, rejuvenate the biodiversity of our pollinators and restore their sacredness," writes Dr. Vandana Shive on #WorldBeeDay. (Photo: Keith McDuffee/flickr/cc)

Poisons Mean Extinction: For Bees and Humanity

Protecting bees is an ecological duty, pushing them to extinction is an ecological crime. The threat to bees is a threat to humanity.

"If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live." -- Maurice Maeterlinck, The Life of the Bee

In the last 50 years agrotoxins have spread and are pushing bees to extinction.

The choices before humanity are clear, a Poison Free Future to save bees, farmers, our food and humanity. Or continue to use poisons, threatening our common future by walking blindly to extinction through the arrogance that we can substitute bees with artificial intelligence and robots.

"Robotic bees could pollinate plants in case of insect apocalypse," ran a recent Guardian headline reporting how Dutch scientists, "believe they will be able to create swarms of bee-like drones to pollinate plants when the real-life insects have died away."

"We see a crisis in 15 years where we don't have enough insects in the world to actually do pollination and most of our vitamins and fruits are gone," said Eylam Ran, CEO of Edete Precision Technologies for Agriculture. His company says its artificial pollinator can augment the labours of--and eventually replace--bees. Its system mirrors the work of the honey bee, beginning with a mechanical harvest of pollen from flowers and ending with a targeted distribution using LIDAR sensors, the same technology used in some self-driving cars."

There is no substitute for the amazing biodiversity and gifts of bees.

Every culture, every faith has seen the bees as teachers--of giving, of creating abundance, of creating the future of plants through pollination, and contributing to our food security and welfare. The next generation of seed is transformed into the next generation of seed only through the gift of the pollinator.

Navdanya's research has shown that more than 30% of the food we eat is produced by bees and pollinators.

Nature's economy is the gift economy. In every tradition the bee has been exemplified as a teacher in giving.

Buddhist texts note that from a multitude of living things, bees and other pollinating animals take what they need to survive without harming the beauty and vitality of their source of sustenance. For humans, to act in the manner of bees is an enactment of compassionate and conscious living.

St. John Chrysostom of the Catholic Church wrote, "The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others." (12th Homily)

In the Islamic tradition, the Quran's 16th chapter is titled 'The Bee.' This chapter is known to be the revelation of God.

In the Hindu tradition, there is a wonderful quote in the scripture Srimad Mahabhagavatam which reads, "Like a honey bee gathering honey from all type of flowers the wise men search everywhere for truth and see only good in all religions."

Let us together as diverse species and diverse cultures and through poison free organic food and farming, rejuvenate the biodiversity of our pollinators and restore their sacredness. We have the creative power to stop the sixth mass extinction and climate catastrophe without the need for these false technocratic solutions.

Join Us: News for people demanding a better world


Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place.

We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference.

Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. Join with us today!

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.