"If bees disappeared from the Earth, humanity would last no more than 4 years" - Albert Einstein
Presently, there is an ongoing debate surrounding the disappearance of bees. It seems pretty clear that pesticides are the main culprit, however. Scientists work hard every day to get to the root of the problem. You can read more about the threats the bees are facing here.
Nearly one-third of the world's crops are dependent on honeybees for pollination. Without honeybees fruits, seeds, vegetables would be scarce. Beyond losing produce, without the pollination efforts of bees we'd lose alfalfa and clover and other things that livestock feeds on, meaning the loss of much of our meat and dairy. The remain products would skyrocket in price due to the limited availability. Here is a preview of what a grocery store would look like without bees:
Honeybees as a species are not in danger of extinction, but their ability to support the industry of commercial pollination, and by extension, a large portion of our food supply, is in serious danger.
Imagine your favorite meal of the day being compromised because of the choices our society has made. This is what breakfast would look like with and without bees:
Besides the effects on us as humans, no bees- no produce, there are other indirect implications. Because produce and plants would begin to die, animals dependent on shrubs and fruit bushes would die off because of the lack of food.
Some groups argue that other pollinators such as butterflies, bumble bees, and birds have the ability to pollinate. The only issue is bees pollinate 70 of the top 100 crops, we depend on bees more than any other pollinator. Also, there is an argument that we have the technology to pollinate crops. Although we do, experts have calculated that artificial pollination would cost about 155 billion dollars every year.
To fully understand the issues, we need to understand that we need the bees more than they need us. The popular saying "Save The Bees" can be translated to "Save The World" because we rely on bees and other pollinators more than we know.