“Let food be
thy medicine and medicine be thy food” - Hippocrates
Bees
Bees are
responsible for pollinating large numbers of crops, particularly fruit
crops. Pollination is required before a flower, for example an apple
flower, can go on and produce fruit.
In recent
years there has been huge concern over the sudden collapse of bee
colonies. The reasons are not really understood.
'If the
bee became extinct, man would only survive a few years beyond it'' anon
(sometimes attributed to Einstein)
Links
The
co-operative Plan BEE "Bee populations are in severe decline all
over the world, but beekeepers and scientists are unsure what is causing
these losses. This matters because bees pollinate a third of the food we
eat, so without them there would be no apples, onions or even tea!"
The Vegan
Society "... However bees undergo treatments similar to
those endured by other farmed animals. They go through routine examination
and handling, artificial feeding regimes, drug and pesticide treatment,
genetic manipulation, artificial insemination, transportation (by air,
rail and road) and slaughter"
THE
HONEYBEE SANCTUARY "It all boils down to the question of whether we
dare to consider the bees' own needs or only our own." -- Gunther Hauk,
Toward Saving the Honeybee. The honeybee is nature's greatest
benefactor. Just as our heart does, she radiates her gifts of healing
and nurturing into the entire organism of a farm, invigorating all life.
She enlivens plants with homeopathic doses of formic acid, pollinates
three-quarters of the food we eat, stimulates the cow's digestion by
pollinating certain wild-flowers and, above and beyond all that, shares
with us the byproducts of her labors: honey, wax, propolis. Even her
formic acid "poison" has been shown to have therapeutic applications."
Bumblebee
Conservation Trust Saving the sound of summer Bumblebees are beautiful, hard working and incredibly important
pollinators. The UK had 27 species, but sadly 3 are nationally extinct,
and others are seriously threatened. Join today and help us to conserve
bumblebees for future generations to enjoy.
