Caitlin Nelson - Bees

I keep reading about how the bumble bee population is at an all time low, and how that is dangerous because obviously they pretty much are in charge of pollinating everything. I guess this reflects how the things we put in the air, and the way we make nature unwelcome in certain areas is having a negative affect on our lives. We hate bugs, we kill them without a second thought because we know the population is so great that it won't matter, I know I do. If I see a bug in my house I don't usually consider saving it, I usually just smush it because I don't want more bugs later. But now as a result of our quickness to destroy bugs, we are now finding ourselves without some that are rather important to our survival. I think it just goes to show how you don't realize how important and crucial something is in our lives, in the food chain, until it is gone or in danger of being gone. I work with children throughout the year at an elementary school, and everyday when we go on the playground I go over the playground rules. One of the things I have to do is go over the rules before they can play. As a result of what I have read about the decreasing bee population I have now added a new rule to my list, no squishing bees, or bugs in general. One of the kids favorite things to do outside is to run in the field and step on the bees that are pollinating the little weeds and flowers. They get so confused as to why I get upset at them when they are smushing the bugs, and they definitely think its weird that its a rule. But I figure if I save a few bees maybe that will help, and maybe me telling the kids about it will somehow help them learn to respect nature.