Bringing Back the Bees

After witnessing the declining health of the GUS hives last year, the Class of 2019, as part of its class gift, donated funds to help revitalize the wellbeing of the bees.

This fall, a group of upper school students created an X-block with the intention of getting information out to GUS and the greater community about what might be killing our bees. In coordination with upper school science teacher Emilie Cushing, they have researched the many contributing factors to declining bee health here at GUS and across the country. This spring, they look foward to rejuvinating the hives and bringing bees back to campus.

BEES X-BLOCK (L-R) Emilie Cushing, Lucy Lutton, Maggie Hauck, Nathaniel Flynn, Calvin Brown, Zach Doxee, Miya Yen, Michael Towne-Smith, Leo Bertone, Anna Leavitt, and Adeline Kontos.

Bee Gone Pesticides

The horrible things happening to the bees and how we can help them

Michael Towne-Smith ’21 + Miya Yen ’22

Bees are dying across the country. Bee populations are dying at a higher rate than ever before. Pesticides are causing Colony Collapse Disorder, meaning that hundreds of hives are, and have been, dying. While it may seem like a trivial matter, this is a very important issue. Without bees, we run the risk of losing tons of things we may take for granted.

One of the main factors in the drop of bee populations are neonicotinoids, a type of pesticide. There are three types of neonicotinoids: imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam. Neonicotinoids are extremely harmful to bees, and sadly people use them often. Neonicotinoids are easy to produce and cheaper than other pesticides, so people are much more prone to buying and using them. These pesticides can linger in the soil for years, making them even more harmful.

So, why is the dying population of bees affecting us? Well, bees are a keystone species of pollinators, which means they spread pollen between most flowering plants, and without bees, most of your everyday food wouldn’t exist. About one-half to two-thirds of shelves in grocery stores would be empty. Bees are a very important contributor to our lives, and unfortunately we are doing them more harm than help. You can help assist the bees by planting flowers and using a safer alternative to neonicotinoids, or perhaps no pesticides at all, in your backyard and in grassy and floral areas.