Human Impact on Pollinators and Their Impact on Us

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          Pollinators are essential to the human way of life that we are all accustomed to now. Pollinators range from insects to birds to mammals and they all help our ecosystems and boost crop yields each year around the world. In fact, pollinators are responsible for 1 out of 3 bites of food that we eat (WFM). In North America 99 percent of pollinators are insects, with anywhere from 75-95 percent of all flowering plants needing pollinators to thrive (Witter). Agriculture in the United State is important, with over 2,000,000 farms spread throughout the nation in 2017 (Statistica). Many farms rely heavily on pollinators to help produce successful crop yields each year, domesticated bees being the main pollinator.  

Pollinators are suffering detrimental losses each year, especially bees. There are 8 different bee species that are threatened or endangered and about 37 other insect pollinators (U.S Fish and Wildlife Services). This posses a big problem, as colony collapse disorder, mites and pathogens cause big declines in bee population levels, however there is a big impact we humans are having on bees and other pollinator populations and it has it do with insecticides.

In 2013, the European Commission(EC) imposed a ban on a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, which restricted the use of 3 major types on seeds, grains and plants that are attractive to bees, due to the gravity of the declined pollinator population levels (Grossman). At that time, many placed the sole blame for bee population declines on neonicotinoids, but in recent times, evidence shows heavily the negative impact the pesticide has on bees. A study found that even when no chemicals were used on site, there was neonicotinoid residue found even after the ban years before. Even just the residue has been linked to fewer queen bees and fewer egg cells, thus impacting the population size (Wong). The problem with pesticides isn’t just within the U.S, but also overseas. In Germany alone, 50-60 percent of bees died off with the blame placed heavily on pesticides even when the cause for the population decline was unknown (Curry).

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There was another study done that showed that the toxicity of neonicotinoids increased when present together with a commonly used fungicide (Wong). There are 3 tiers to pesticide toxicity: highly toxic, toxic and relatively nontoxic. Tier I (highly toxic and toxic) pesticides now are required to have text on the label clearly identifying how to properly use the product to reduce the risk to pollinators, with some relatively nontoxic products voluntarily putting the text on the label. This is good, however there are flaws to toxicity, such as high exposure rate to low toxicity having the same affects as low exposure to high toxicity. Another flaw, is the toxicity of insecticides when combined with fungicide, some making a more potent mixture than the two were when separate(Phillips, Schuh). We have to be more careful as to what we spray and pay more attention to labels on products such as the pesticides used and what is being used in conjunction with those sprays.  

wfm.com/pollinators

There are actions we can take to help save bees and other pollinators. We can decrease the amount of exposure to pesticides/insecticides/fungicides by not applying product until flowering is complete, or not applying to pollen shedding parts of plants (as that will harm the bees), target sprays once foraging is done for the day and avoid getting spray into puddles (as the water from those puddles can then in turn poison the bees) (Phillips, Schuh). Another thing we can do as a community, is plant native species to attract the bees and pollinators as both will thrive better under these conditions. There is a site that can be used to determine what flowers are best to plant in your area and the plants are ranked by the number of butterfly and moth species who use them to host their caterpillars, which will help pollinator populations increase. You can also build bird houses, plant milkweed for monarchs, put out hummingbird feeders, apply organic fertilizer and plant herbs, perennials and annuals that bees love (Stahl). With more people becoming aware of the problem and more trying to help, we can reduce our negative impact on pollinators and increase their positive impact on us.

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Curry, Andrew. “Bee Emergency: Unexplained Mass Die-Off Hits German Hives - SPIEGEL ONLINE - International.” SPIEGEL ONLINE, SPIEGEL ONLINE, 9 May 2008, www.spiegel.de/international/germany/bee-emergency-unexplained-mass-die-off-hits-german-hives-a-552556.html.

Grossman, Elizabeth. “Declining Bee Populations Pose a Threat to Global Agriculture.” Yale E360, Apr. 2013, e360.yale.edu/features/declining_bee_populations_pose_a_threat_to_global_agriculture.

Phillips, Ben, and Marissa Schuh. “Vegetable Pesticide Series: Should I Use It during Bloom?” MSU Extension, 20 Sept. 2018, www.canr.msu.edu/news/vegetable_pesticide_series_should_i_use_it_during_bloom.

“Pollinators: The Endangered Species Program.” Official Site of the U S Fish and Wildlife Service, Nov. 2017, www.fws.gov/pollinators/Programs/Endangered.html.

Stahl, Toni. “Garden for Hummingbirds, Bees, Wildlife. Native Plants...” GARDENOPOLIS Cleveland, 11 Apr. 2019, www.gardenopoliscleveland.org/2019/04/garden-for-hummingbirds-bees-wildlife-native-plants/.

“U.S. Farming: Total Number of Farms 2017 | Statistic.” Statista, Feb. 2018, www.statista.com/statistics/196103/number-of-farms-in-the-us-since-2000/.

WFM. “Protecting Pollinators.” Whole Foods Market, 4 May 2016, www.wholefoodsmarket.com/pollinators.

Witter, Karen Ackerman. “Landscape with Native Plants and Pollinators.” IllinoisTimes, 11 Apr. 2019, 12:15a.m, illinoistimes.com/article-21126-landscape-with-native-plants-and-pollinators.html.

Wong, Sam. “Strongest Evidence Yet That Neonicotinoids Are Killing Bees.” New Scientist, 3 July 2017, www.newscientist.com/article/2139197-strongest-evidence-yet-that-neonicotinoids-are-killing-bees/.

Less meat, less climate change?

http://bravenewclimate.com/2012/03/24/dietary-gc-ignores-cc/

Environmentalists all over the world have their sights set on one goal: saving our planet. However, there is not just one way to accomplish this goal. We’ve all heard the various suggestions on how to do our part in reducing our impact on climate change, such as driving an electric car, turning off our lights, and reducing our showering times, but have you ever heard that eating less meat could be more important than all of those? For instance, the amount of water used to shower for two months is equivalent to the amount of water used to produce a single hamburger: 660 gallons of water (Gillam). Convinced yet?

Damian Carrington, a writer for The Guardian, confronts us with a fact that many people are unaware of, which is that “the global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all cars, planes, trains, and ships combined” (Carrington). Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang conducted a study to discover the levels of “uncounted, overlooked, and misallocated livestock-related GHG emissions” and found that “51% of annual worldwide GHG emissions are caused by livestock and their byproducts.” In fact, livestock and their byproducts actually “account for at least 32,564 million tons of CO₂e per year” (Goodland and Anhang). Animal agriculture also accounts for much of the deforestation and land-use occurring around the world. In fact, animal agriculture is responsible for 91% of the Amazon destruction and 45% of earth’s land is covered by livestock (Gillam).  Greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and land-use are some of the main concerns for climate change and if animal agriculture is responsible for such high amounts then obviously changes need to be made.

Meat consumption in Asia is expected to rise with a 116% increase in China and a 138% increase in India between 2006 and 2050 (Casey). This is a major concern because a growing demand for meat will result in increased greenhouse gas emissions, ultimately causing the dangerous effects of climate change to be unavoidable (Casey). If action isn’t taken to stop this increase in meat consumption, agricultural emissions could take up 100% of the carbon budget by the year 2050 (Carrington). Simply said, every other industry would have to impossibly emit no carbon in order to keep our planet from warming an extra 2 degrees.

By switching to a plant-based diet, you can reduce your carbon footprint by 50% by reducing both emissions and land-use because feeding a vegan for a year requires 18 times less land than meat eaters (Gillam).  Reducing meat consumption will not only have a positive impact on the environment, but it will also have a positive impact on human health since there are reports coming out about health issues that could be attributed to consumption of certain meats. You can help your planet and yourself by becoming more aware of your meat consumption and making a few changes.

It is safe to assume that the most effective method of avoiding this unwanted increase in emissions is to reduce meat consumption worldwide. The first step that needs to be taken is raising awareness of the impact animal agriculture has on the environment and human health. This may sound easy, but there are many barriers. Kate Irwin of The Daily Californian informs us that “many of the world’s largest and most famous nonprofit environmental organizations suppress, do not acknowledge or are ignorant of this basic truth” (Irwin). These organizations that are all about protecting the environment aren’t even addressing this problem and that is an issue. On top of that, according to Laura Wellesley of BBC News, governments aren’t addressing this environmental issue either because they fear backlash from the people and they know the public’s awareness of this issue is low so they do not feel the need to do anything (Wellesley). Despite the lack of support that this issue gets from the larger organizations and governments, many environmentalists continue to address the issue on their own. In 2014, Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn took it upon themselves to create a risky documentary, Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, to explore the impact that animal agriculture has on our environment and present their own solution to this environmental issue: a plant-based diet (Irwin). So, are you willing to give up some meat for the sake of the planet you live on?