Honey bees — wild and domestic — perform about 80 percent of all pollination worldwide. A single bee colony can pollinate 300 million flowers each day. Grains are primarily pollinated by the wind, but fruits, nuts and vegetables are pollinated by bees. Seventy out of the top 100 human food crops — which supply about 90 percent of the world’s nutrition — are pollinated by bees. Over the past few years, bee populations have been dying at a rate the U.S. government says IS ECONOMICALLY UNSUSTAINABLE.

The causes of this trend has been primarily blamed on Pesticides companies. A European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) scientific report determined that three widely used pesticides — nicotine-based clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiametoxam — pose “high acute risks” for bees. The nicotinoid pesticides—used in soils, on foliage, and embedded in seeds—persist at the core of the toxic pesticide cocktail found in bee hives.



I propose that we make May 20th National Bee Day to raise awareness of this problem and to honor an insect that has made human life possible.

Last December in New York, the General Assembly of the United Nations declared May 20 a World Bee Day. This was made on the initiative of Slovenia and Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association, who picked this date because this is the birthday of Anton Janša (1734-1773), the founder of modern beekeeping and because May is also the month when the development of bees in the Northern hemisphere is in full swing: bee colonies swarm, engaging in their natural way of reproduction. In the Southern hemisphere, bee products are harvested in May – it is the time of autumn there.

The World Bee Day highlights the importance of preserving bees and their role in the lives of humans.



I started this petition because...

If Columbus Day can be a national holiday, I do not see why Bee Day cannot at very minimum be an observed holiday.