Imagine a world without honey bees.

Honey bees are miraculous creatures; flying at speeds of 10 to 15 mph, they visit between 50-100 flowers in each pollination trip. To produce just one pound of honey, they must visit two million flowers and and fly 55,000 miles, and it doesn't stop there. When a honey bee returns to the hive after finding a good pollination source, it gives out samples of the flower's nectar to it's hive mates and does a little dance that details the distance, direction, quality and quantity of the food supply: the richer the food source, the longer and more vigorous the dance.

Honey Bees constantly do us favors, and most of the time, we don't even notice. But now, the term "you never know what you have until its gone" is more apparent than ever before. So, imagine a world without honey bees.

Now imagine a world without tasty pears., luscious raspberries, and juicy strawberries. Honey bees are responsible for pollinating one-third of all the food we eat and for $15 billion worth of U.S. agricultural crops alone.

Over the last several winters, more than 25% of the western honey bee population has disappeared. Many scientists believe that it is because of Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. CCD is an alarming phenomenon that causes honey bees to mysteriously leave their hives and die. Researchers still are not sure what exactly causes CCD, but they believe that it has something to do with chemical exposure, viruses, mites, and poor nutrition.

Along with with haagen-dazs, burt's bees, Pennsylvania State University and University of California at Davis

you can do your part to help, and heres how:

1. Plant a seed: Planting beautiful bee-friendly flowers in your yard can actually increase native honey bee populations. The following flowers and plants will attract honey bees and human alike:
^{lavender, glory bushes, jasmine, rosemary, coreopis, violets, thyme, wisteria, bluebells, trumpet vine, sunflowers, cosmos, and corn flowers.}

2. Donate to two of the world's leading honey bee research fascilities to help find a solution to CCD.
^{donate to Pennsylvania State University.
donate to California State University at Davis}

3. Support beekeepers: No one is more affected by the honey bee crisis than local beekeepers. Many have lost entire hives to CCD, and their knowledge is a valuable resource for understanding the challenge we face. Here are some ways to support these important workers:
^{-- Buy local honey and hive products such as beeswax candles.
-- Use natural honey as an alternative to sugar in the home and in restaurants.}

4. Tell your friends: Copy and paste all this information and spread it around. This epidemic needs our attention and our interest. Inform everyone you know.

When honey bees are in danger, we're all in danger.