Here is an article by our LETS Newsletter Editor and Beekeeper Chris Slade from your last newsletter…
Albert Einstein said…..
“If the bees disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would have only 4 years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man”
Which Albert Einstein was that? It certainly wasn’t the famous theoretical physicist who devised his theory of relativity through what he described as a ‘thought experiment’. He died in 1955 but the apocryphal saying first was mentioned in January 1994 when the Union Nationale d’Apiculture Francais (French Bee Farmers) were staging a protest at Brussels.
Bee that as it may, let’s follow the great Albert’s example and devise a thought experiment. Imagine, if you will, a world where there are no honeybees or other Apis species. What shall we call it? How about ‘America’?
a) Could pollination happen in America if there were no bees? b) Would the twin continents be devoid of plants, animals and man? c) How else would pollination happen? d) What plants could survive without bees aiding their sex lives? e) What animals would there be and, of course: f) How could man exist in these circumstances?
Answers: a) Yes; b) no; c) humming birds, butterflies, wind, other insects, self-pollination, tuberous reproduction; d) potatoes, maize, tobacco, tomatoes, Brazil nuts, vines, conifer forests, prairie grasslands, to name but a few e) buffalo by the million, sloth, cougar, bear of all sorts, fish, birds of all sorts, wolves, monkeys, caribou and countless others f) Eskimos even today live largely in a bee-free environment and always have done. Other humans have done so too, spreading south after having crossed the land/ice bridge from Siberia thousands of years ago. It is true that, in the recent (last 500 years) past, migrants have put pressure on the environment, probably more so in the most recent 10% of that time than the remainder added together through use of agri-chemicals and other pollutants, but even so it is self evident that mankind can exist there, possibly with the assistance of the honeybees that they introduced. Now, whether civilisation will ever evolve there is an entirely different question.
So the alleged Einstein statement is completely ridiculous and poppycock!
By Chris Slade
Anna Celeste Watson said,
June 22, 2009 @ 4:09 pm
I don’t think I’d survive without honey bees as a vegan with all the veggies I eat, which is a bit of a dilemma for me really because as a vegan I choose not to use any animal products including honey, but at the same time I want to help honey bees survive and encourage more people to have organic hives! Could Chris at least recommend anything I could do in my small garden to attract honey bees to help feed them all Summer as we only seem to get bumble bees?!
Chris Slade said,
June 22, 2009 @ 11:10 pm
I don’t know why vegans don’t eat honey. Basically it is a plant product with just a few enzymes added by the bees to invert the sugars to easily-digested mono-saccharides. Honey is one of the few products specifically designed to be a foodstuff.
To encourage bees to your garden, plant a variety of willows as their nectar and pollen really press the colony’s accelerator pedal in early spring. Plant a herb garden with a wide variety including sage, rosemary and borage. They love Cotoneaster (which will feed the birds later). Find space at the back of your garden for the tall, beautiful and stately Rose Bay Willow Herb. Plant single flowers rather than doubles which have nothing for bees. Don’t leave too much bare earth – let the weeds grow, such as Ground Ivy, and to finish off the year let the ordinary Ivy flourish.
Anna Celeste Watson said,
June 23, 2009 @ 10:04 am
I don’t want to steal their food when they’ve been so beesy making it!!! Hehe! : ) Some people kill the queens but I know you don’t, but it’s debatable whether vegans eat honey or not coz of that – I just choose not to myself but my Dad who is also vegan does! I know you love and care for your bees too coz you’ve told me before! Either way I think it’s important people do have hives as honey bees are important to the planet plus they’re nice too and deserve to be protected and helped!!! Thanks for the planting tips!