从员工开始:2020年
B.S., cum laude and Tau Beta Pi, Columbia University
Malia works to advance the 拯救蜜蜂 campaign with Environment America's conservation team. Malia currently lives in Sacramento, 加州, 在那里她帆, 上涨, and tries to learn other languages whenever she has the chance.
As family and friends gather to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, it’s important to remember what got you to that table. Sure it’s the hard cooking labor in the kitchen and the difficult travel some family members took to get there. But we should also set aside time to reflect on some smaller, unheralded creatures that made our meal possible. Simply put, bees have made numerous contributions to most families’ hearty Thanksgiving feasts. 没有蜜蜂, some of our signature holiday dishes would even lose their namesake ingredients -- such as the pumpkin in pumpkin pie.
事实上, if you go down your Thanksgiving list, the bee plays an indispensable role at the Thanksgiving dinner table. Below is a list of foods that rely on bees:
From the savory to the sweet, bees make the delicious foods on our plate possible. These bee-pollinated staples add color and nutrition to our plates year-round.
While a bee-less Thanksgiving would still have the centerpiece turkey and a few sides, they would be less flavorful without pollinators. The butter used in creamy mashed potatoes and soft dinner rolls, 以及其他乳制品, 从蜜蜂那里得到很大的帮助 pollinate the alfalfa that feeds cows.
In addition, a farm turkey’s diet typically has a 玉米和大豆基地, neither of which needs bees to grow, but visits from those pollinators can 提高大豆产量. And what’s more, many of the herbs used to season the bird, including thyme, rosemary and sage, are 蜜蜂最喜欢.
葡萄酒鉴赏家和初学者, 像我这样, can thank bees for contributing to the age-old beverage as well. Grapes are not directly pollinated by bees, but the 用于增强覆盖作物 vineyards’ performance and wine flavors rely on bees.
Despite how much they have to offer to our Thanksgiving feast and beyond, bees face challenges that are putting them in peril. Pesticide use, habitat loss and climate change are among the major factors that hurt bees.
美国有 4000种本地蜜蜂,然而, 超过一半 of species examined are in decline. 蜜蜂的情况也很糟糕. 去年,你.S. 养蜂人报道 失去45.5%的殖民地, which was the second highest annual loss rate on record.
As we give thanks for bees this holiday season and look ahead to making our new year resolutions, there are a few ways you can help save these pollinators.
种植一个蜜蜂友好的花园. Gardens are havens for bees and other pollinators. Incorporating a variety of flowering plants helps support many bee species. 联系 your local nursery for native plants that are favorites of bees.
减少使用农药. Aim to create a low- to no-pesticide yard to avoid the unintended negative consequences pesticides often have on bees. 这个感恩节, consider adding organic foods to your cart, since these foods avoid synthetic pesticides known to harm bees.
给你选出的官员打电话. Make your voice heard by picking up the phone and calling your elected officials -- city, state or federal -- to urge them to support initiatives to increase bee habitat or reduce pesticide use.
在这顿感恩节晚餐中, and the many meals of leftovers that follow, I hope you share my renewed appreciation for bees and take the next step to help ensure these amazing creatures thrive.
Top photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels.
从员工开始:2020年
B.S., cum laude and Tau Beta Pi, Columbia University
Malia works to advance the 拯救蜜蜂 campaign with Environment America's conservation team. Malia currently lives in Sacramento, 加州, 在那里她帆, 上涨, and tries to learn other languages whenever she has the chance.