The Washington Post reported recently that air pollution limits the distance a flower’s scent can travel. Bees navigate to flowers by following their scent. The more air pollution increases, the harder it is for bees to find their target. If they don’t reach the plants, the plants are less likely to reproduce. Bees also pollinate a wide variety of plants from coffee to cashews so that they bear fruit. While there are some insects that play minor roles in pollination, we humans depend heavily on honey bees for our food supply. Polluted air endangers our food supply.
As we make life harder for honey bees we flirt with disaster affecting our food crops. The jeopardy of food for our stomachs is certainly food for thought. It’s an interesting paradox. We freak out at the increase in gasoline prices because the effect is immediate, but we can live with threats to our food supply because the consequences lie in the future. We are very short term thinkers.
