Imagine a world without the birds and the bees pollinating our natural habitat. According to the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC), it would be a world without the fabric of life.
Pollinators are vital to food supplies, bio-diversity among plants and animals, and keeping humans healthy with diverse diets, according to University of Kansas Professor Chip Taylor, head of Monarch Watch, and a committee member of the NAPPC.
"[Without pollinators] our diet would consist of grains, such as rice and wheat that are wind pollinated," said Taylor.
Taylor is among those concerned with several factors linked to declining pollinators' populations and health. He attributes the decreases in part to the tremendous loss of native habitats due to development and deforestation, along with an over reliance on pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides.
Even Congress is paying attention. The Senate has named this National Pollinators Week to encourage pollinator appreciation and awareness activities. 30 states are participating with awareness raising events ranging from lectures to radio shows, and garden and crop tours to citizen-scientist and artistic projects. New York City Parks and Recreation is launching a program that utilizes citizen volunteers to do a citywide survey of bee pollinators.
On June 29 the U.S. Postal Service will release a colorful new Pollinator stamp series to bring awareness to the issue. Acclaimed Kansas artist Stan Herd created a two-acre replica of the Southern Dogface butterfly stamp from one of the four Pollinator stamps.
Herd's creation, the world's largest living stamp, is made up of only plants and other natural materials and is on a family farm outside of Lawrence, Kansas.
"We planted 3,000 marigolds, 2,000 petunias, thousands of soybean plants, and used 40,000 thousand pounds of sand, 20 cucumbers, and 150 bales of hay," said Herd at the unveiling earlier this week on June 25.
Fabric of Life
Pollinators are responsible for helping to produce an estimated 1 out of every 3 bites of food eaten by Americans, and at least 80% of flowering plants.
"Pollinators are essential to our quality of life, and they may be in trouble," said Laurie Davis Adams, director of NAPPC in a press release. "A world without pollinators [bees, butterflies, bats, and hummingbirds] is a world without strawberries, apples, almonds, berries, and one-half of the oils in our diet."
To preserve more of their habitat, Taylor recommends that we better manage our roadside lands that constitute about 2% of all available habitats for pollinators.
"Six square miles of land is lost per day to developing in the U.S. alone," said Taylor, who adds that some of our living habits also pose a threat to pollinators.
Taylor says we need to be cautious with things like our use of herbicides, who says, "Herbicides simplify the environment to the point there are no pollinating plants."
Partnerships for Change
The NAPPC, along with 90 other partners and affiliated organizations, is aiming to encourage partnerships among the public, governments, gardeners, farmers, recourse managers, and educators to foster greater awareness and global action for the sake of pollinators' survival.
"People largely worry about our environment and are somewhat frightened about the large issues we face," said NAPPC's Adams. "Here is a big issue, a complicated issue, but it is something we can do."
According to Adams, individuals can help turn the tide by establishing corridors of habitat for nation pollinators, including urban gardening in pots on patios, school yards, at home, and at corporate headquarters.
Taylor agrees that a healthy environment gives pollinators a reason to come and stay. "If you create it they will come," he says
Among essential pollinators, Monarch butterflies need plants like milkweed and Swallowtails need parsley, fennel, dill, or rue. The Dogface butterfly also requires milkweed similar to that illustrated on the new postage stamp. Hummingbirds need long tubular flowers such as hyssop, and bats require moonflower, tuberose, or other night bloomers.
NAPPC's website at www.pollinators.org carries a listing of National Pollinator Week events, Fact Sheets for gardeners, public land managers, educators, students, food industry, farmers, ranchers, posters, and other ways to become pollinator partners.
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