Thursday, May 19, 2016

Pollinators

Pollinators are very important. They help produce one-third of our food source. They also keep ninety percent of crops alive. Unfortunately, they are dying from the pesticides that are sprayed on plants. If we lose our pollinators, which is possible, we could lose one-third of our food source. But, Team Carrabassett is trying to help solve this problem.

      First, Pollinators are dying. Pollinators population is decreasing rapidly because of the use of pesticides on plants and crops. For example, the honeybees population has decreased 29% to 36% each year since 2006. Pesticides are responsible for the loss of pollinators nationwide. (Panna.org) I picked this example because it shows how many pollinators are dying each year.

     Also, Pollinators help produce one-third by bringing pollen from plant to plant. Pollinators collect pollen from one plant then they bring the pollen to another plant. This is how they help produce one-third of our food source. For example, farmers have used bees to pollinate since the 80’s. (Laura Klahre, 11-11-15) I chose this example because it shows how much farmers need bees to pollinate.

   A consequence of losing pollinators is that we would lose 90% of crops and one-third of our food source. If bees were extinct, which is a possibility, we would lose most of our food. Without pollinators, you can say goodbye to cucumbers, almonds, carrots, melons, apricots, cherries, pears, apples, prunes, plums, cantaloupe, onions, avocado, kiwi, blueberries, cranberries and many more fruits and vegetables. For example, bees help produce one-third of our food source. Without pollinators, the other two thirds of our food source will be affected. (Panna.org) I picked this example because it shows how much we really need bees for our foods.

   To address this issue, we are trying to bring awareness to the issue. Also, we can stop buying as much food from Monsanto companies. Monsanto is a company that makes pesticides. A few of their products include,Roundup, Agent Orange, DDT, GMO, and Dioxin. GMO’s are not exactly a bad thing, but it is a bad thing when they mix animal and plant genes together. For example, one time there were some tomatoes that had GMO’s. It wasn't out of the ordinary until they found out they had mixed grasshopper genes in with the tomatoes. I chose this example because it shows that not all GMO’s are horrible, but some are mixed with animals genes  which makes them really bad.

       On Team Carrabassett, we are doing our best to help to the pollinators. To try and resolve this issue we are doing three things. We are writing letters to bring awareness, we are filming PSA’s, and we are also making a pollinator-friendly garden at our school. We are trying to lower the use of pesticides and the use of harmful GMO’s. (Not all GMO’s, but the harmful ones). We are trying to solve this issue because we would not want to lose most of our food sources.

3 comments:

  1. I like the facts in your introduction.

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  2. It like it overall, but you forgot to introduce the quotes.

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  3. Farmers have been using bumblebees to pollinate greenhouse tomatoes since the late 1980s. Before this they pollinated each flower manually. Farmers have always relied on bees to pollinate their crops, with the native bees living in close proximity doing the lion share of the work. With the advent of factory farms where acres of monocultures (a single crop) are grown, honeybees are brought in because they fly up to three miles from their hive for flower nectar (and hence pollinate). Although better pollinators, native bees have shorter flight ranges.

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