Judith Saum: Bees rely on humans' climate actions for survival

To The Daily Sun,

I am easily entertained. I spend hours without getting bored watching the ever-changing panorama of wild things in my yard. Native bees, which are pollinators of conservation importance, happen to be one of my passions. Last summer I started participating in a citizen science project that documents various kinds of bumblebees and the flowers they feed on. I submitted several hundred bumblebee-plant identifications in 2022 and was well on the way to doing the same this year by taking videos of bumblebees in my yard and in the surrounding Rumney neighborhood through the beginning of July.

My participation in this project came to a dramatic halt with the deluge and flooding that took place on July 10-11. After the rain stopped, I could find no bumblebees. Finally, after a week, I saw one, and after a few more days, a couple more. A neighbor who has an extensive flower garden witnessed the same. Although slowly returning, bumblebee numbers are still way down in comparison to what I observed last year. I also notice fewer of the smaller native bees since the flooding.

By googling I learned that flooding kills native bees because about 70% nest underground. We know that the state climatologist’s predictions include increased rainfall with more frequent floods that will create elevated risks for us humans. Wild bees will likely be threatened with die-offs, as well.

It’s becoming clearer that the cost of doing nothing is greater than the cost of acting. Yet many of our elected representatives in local and state government continue to dismiss changing climate as a critical issue. We need to urge them to support strong local, state, and national climate policies that transition away from fossil fuels. Not just for us humans, but also for bees.

Judith Saum

Rumney