The Bee – Nature’s Emissary

 

For some years now, bees the world over have been in trouble. Colony Collapse Disorder is the name given to this until recently baffling phenomenon, in which bee colonies are decimated. We usually think honey when we hear bees, but of far greater value to mankind is the pollinating activity of the bee; the FAO estimated in 2010 that more than 2/3 of the world’s major food crops are bee-pollinated (http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0512sp1.htm). Visions of humanity being wiped out if the bees all disappear loom on the horizon. 

An almond farmer in Swiss director Markus Imhoof’s recent film More than Honey expresses the place of the bee in the world very succinctly when he says that the bees are go-betweens. Almond trees produces almonds and a bee produces honey, but the bee also interacts with the almond tree to pollinate. Bees bring nectar to the hive and transform it into honey. A bee is a wild animal living in the highly complex social structure that is the hive, and colony behavior is a fine example of cooperation and intricate interaction. The bee is a messenger from the natural world to the human one, producing for us not only honey but also royal jelly, beeswax and propolis. It is a key weaver of the web of life. Because bees are threatened and also commercially so important, they are a high profile exemplification of natural rhythms and relationships brought to bear on human society.

I have had the good fortune to visit a bee house, an old wooden structure in the woods with boxes for the hives along the back. The aged wood, the sweet waxy aroma and our protective garb all contributed to the feeling of ancient ritual. My grandson lifted out one of the frames, the flat structures on which the bees create the honeycomb, and held it close so we could observe the animals at work. I had the feeling of being very present in an age-old natural process, very close to the rhythms of life.

The film More than Honey shows the bees’ interaction with humans and machines and chemicals as well, and reveals how fragile these relationships are if the whole process is not respected. Using pesticides to wipe out predators on food crops, for example, is a single-minded, single-target approach, completely out of whack with this complex network. It is ironic that the manufacturers of the pesticide issue dire warnings about severe crop losses if the pesticides are banned, while friends of the bees prophesy disaster if these chemicals continue to be used. If there are no bees to pollinate there will be no crops needing pesticides. The solution to caring for the bees and producing pest-free crops must be a networked solution. It will require a networking mentality. The bees can show us the way.