Although bee populations in the United States have stabilized somewhat, some species are experiencing declines that could impact entire county regions. For example, across New England, 14 bee species were on the decline by as much as 90% in 2019.
Experts have also been alarmed by the number of colonies that have succumbed to colony collapse disorder. This is a phenomenon in which most of the colony's worker bees die or disappear, leaving the colony without the means to care for its young and its queen. New threats, such as introducing Asian giant hornets (nicknamed "Murder Hornets") into the United States, are also a cause for concern.
The decline of bees has serious economic and environmental implications. There are about 4000 known native bee species in the U.S., and they play an essential role in maintaining our ecosystem and our food supply. Bees pollinate flowers, fruits and vegetables, so they are needed for plant growth on farms as well as in the wild.
Thankfully, scientists, beekeepers and agricultural experts are searching for solutions. Many companies, organizations, and individuals are pitching in as well. Now more than ever, the internet has also made it easier to join bee conservation efforts.
Hobby beekeepers can learn about the beekeeping trade and find supplies online so they can set up beekeeping operations at home. Furthermore, tech companies are providing beekeepers with high-tech assistance by developing new technologies that support hive maintenance efforts. Internet service providers (ISPs) themselves are contributing to bee-saving efforts by adding big sustainability goals to their list of corporate responsibilities.
Here's how the internet is working together to save the bees -- and how you can help, too.
Much of the decline of bee populations -- and insect populations in general -- is attributable to environmental decline and the hefty use of pesticides and fertilizers in farming practices. Heavy land use has also led to the loss of vast amounts of viable habitat for insects. According to one 2017 study, Germany's insect population has seen a 75% decline since the 1990s.
Any efforts to maintain the environment and sustain insect habitats are welcome, which is why it's heartening to see ISPs contributing to sustainability efforts.
Here's how some of the biggest ISPs are helping:
Verizon announced at the beginning of 2019 that it had closed the U.S. telecommunications industry's first Green Bond. A Green Bond is a fixed-income financial instrument that earmarks money raised for environmental projects. In other words, when investors invest in a Green Bond, the issuer of the bond uses an amount equal to the proceeds to fund green investments and sustainability projects.
Verizon's bond offering raised almost $1 billion for projects like renewable energy, energy efficiency, green buildings, sustainable water management and biodiversity conservation.
AT&T, one of the world's largest companies, has multiple environmental initiatives as part of their social responsibility program, including:
AT&T has also created a sustainability roadmap to guide the company until 2025.
Charter Communications (Spectrum) is building sustainability into its fleets and facilities. The company's new headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, will achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold status. The Telecom company is also implementing new technologies to make its fleet of 30 000 vehicles more efficient.
HughesNet, a subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation, was given an award by the Alliance for Workplace Excellence for EcoLeadership and Diversity in 2019. After establishing a "Green Committee," they received the award, which develops environmental programs and supports employee eco-volunteerism. The company is also certified as a "Green Business" by Montgomery County in Maryland.
Frontier uses a variety of green initiatives to improve the sustainability of its business practices. The company allows its call center employees to work from home, which reduces emissions. It also hosts virtual meetings, provides employees with public transit spending accounts and enables customers to pay their bills online instead of by mail.
Broadband internet service is the most widely used type of internet access. It has become a necessary tool for businesses and consumers, as it allows them to operate data-heavy applications across the internet without risking slow or reduced speeds. Broadband internet is widely used for video conferencing, transferring large amounts of data from one party to another, and for general web browsing.
Extending broadband internet services to rural areas has long been a goal for both local governments and private companies. Americans living in rural areas have made some significant gains in their access to broadband internet in the past several years, but they still lag urban areas.
According to the Pew Research Center, about 63% of rural Americans say they have a broadband internet connection at home. That's up from just 35% in 2007. Still, rural Americans are 12 percentage points less likely than the rest of the country to have some type of broadband at home.
While rural broadband may not seem relevant to the fate of America's bees, it will play a significant role in the beekeeping industry in the coming years. Apiaries that are connected to the internet will have more opportunities to grow and expand their businesses. They'll also have more opportunities to take advantage of web applications and other technologies that can help them manage their hives and monitor bee populations.
The solutions being designed to save bee populations will require fast internet speeds to operate effectively. Without broadband access, it could become difficult to deploy the next generation of Internet of Things (IoT) technology that could save bee populations worldwide.
In fact, the agricultural industry is on the cusp of a revolution thanks to new developments in IoT technology. Automated smart farming systems -- high-tech growing models in which farms are monitored or operated remotely using sensors -- will soon become an important solution to addressing the nation's food supply, not to mention our environmental challenges.
The "Internet of Things" refers to a system of connected computing devices that can transfer data over a network without the need for humans to interact with a computer or with each other. IoT technology refers to any type of computer technology that has this capability -- it could be something as small as a smartphone or something as large as an entire growing facility.
As an example, tractor company John Deere started connecting its tractors to the internet, turning them into IoT devices in the process. Now, farmers can view data about their crop yields collected by their tractors while in operation. In the future, the company is expecting to deploy self-driving tractors and other technologies to assist farmers.
IoT has applications in beekeeping as well. Startups worldwide are developing several IoT-enabled beekeeping systems to address the decline of bees, which is a threat to as much as 35% of food crops in the United States. These include IoT monitoring sensors, digital assistants, automated cameras and other technologies.
One example, ApisProtect, is a small device that attaches to the bottom of a beehive roof. ApisProtect has partnered with satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat to deploy the IoT technology.
ApisProtect collects data about the hive's activity, then sends that data to the beekeeper via their smartphone. This way, the beekeeper can determine which hives are underperforming, which hives need intervention, and how effectively colonies are pollinating the surrounding area.
In 2019, computer technology company Oracle announced its partnership with the World Bee Project to save bees using artificial intelligence (AI). Together, the two organizations created The Global Hive Network, the world's first coordinated hive-monitoring project.
The network will generate data by monitoring hives worldwide, which can then be used to identify trends and spot meaningful correlations within honey bee populations. The network will also monitor how honey bees behave and how they are impacted by weather patterns, diseases, pesticides and other threats.
Using all this data, beekeepers can take informed actions to help bee populations.
IoT-enabled sensors embedded in hives will be able to record and transfer data to organizations that manage bees. Once they have this data, they can use software applications to assess the health of their pollinators. Other apps can help them track bee populations, track bee movements, and more.
If you decide you want to join the beekeeping community, some of the above tools can certainly help. But it would help if you also searched for other online resources that can help you educate yourself on the trade.
Once you've learned the tricks of the trade, you can shop online for beekeeping supplies from some of the following retailers:
Experts and hobbyists will continue monitoring both domestic and wild bee populations to determine how we can reverse the decline of this important species. Thankfully, new advances in technology have made conservation efforts easier and more effective. We can hope to see the bee population recover as more companies continue to achieve their sustainability goals.
In the meantime, don't hesitate to start your beekeeping operation using the information provided here.