An invisible mist of pesticides fell over the wooded community of Summerville, South Carolina and the Flowertown Bee Farm owned by Juanita Stanley. Planes flew over spraying for mosquitos in an attempt to stem the spread of the Zika virus. Within 30 minutes of the spraying, over 3 million of Juanita Stanley’s honeybees lay dead on the ground.

Over the last two months since the first case of Zika appeared in the United States, authorities have been spraying pesticide along the southeast coast of America. The direct damage that may have been caused to the environment by the spraying is not the only or even the primary cause of devastation when compared to the long-term effects of the loss of 3 million bees on the area. Honeybees are the predominant pollinator in the United States, which makes them an important part of many ecosystems and vital to the pollination of plants.

The phenomenon of colony collapse disorder and the larger problem of honeybee die-off goes much further than an isolated incident in South Carolina, and has been affecting the state of agriculture and the environment in the United States for the past few decades in a profoundly negative way. Over the last 10 years, beekeepers in the U.S. have seen a yearly die-off rate of 40 to 50 percent in their bee populations, which is nowhere near sustainable levels.

Bees pollinate the majority of the foods we humans eat every day. If the honeybee die-off continues at the same rate, we could start to lose most, if not all, of the crops that require pollination, such as strawberries, coffee, and alfalfa to feed cows.

The causes for the bee die-off have been attributed to global warming, pollution, cell phone towers, loss of habitat, and the neonicotinoid family of pesticides. Many bee advocacy groups are working to stop the problem of bee die-off. Many have been victorious in their efforts to halt the use of neonicotinoids by getting courts to rule that companies have to pay beekeepers who have experienced colony collapse associated with pesticides. There have also been significant successes in the public scope by pressuring companies (such as Home Depot, Lowes, and Home and Garden) to stop selling products that contain the neonicotinoid family of pesticides.

Some groups have been working to pressure the EPA and lawmakers to completely ban the substances, and have been met with little success.

The primary focus of this discussion on the efforts to help save bees has been on the pesticides, and getting rid of them. The European Union banned the neonicotinoid family of pesticides. After banning them, the European Union saw minuscule changes in the die-off rates in the honeybee population and have recently reintroduced some of these pesticides with certain regulations. It is undeniably true that these pesticides are responsible for a portion of the problem, but if we look at the events in Europe surrounding their problems with colony collapse we can see how more factors contribute to this problem of bee die-off.

So why is the issue of pesticides the primary problem being discussed instead of air pollution or global warming? Well, both of these matters are complex issues that will require complex solutions, and can not be described in a simple flyer or slogan. These factors make it harder for groups working to save the bees to promote solutions for these issues. On the other hand, banning neonicotinoids is an idea that the public can easily wrap their heads around fairly quickly.
Even though this strategy makes sense from a practical viewpoint, it does not address the whole issue, and makes the dilemma of the dropping bee population seem one-dimensional. If we are to solve the issues surrounding honeybee die-off in this country, it will take a serious look into the larger problems of global warming and pollution.