Jonathon Guthrie, the FT financial columnist, heard a bang on his front door.
There was a queen bee standing there demanding money!
One hundred and sixty billion pounds to be precise! For what? I hear you ask, for pollinating one in four mouthfuls of the food we eat!
Mrs Hornet stood there with the queen demanding payment in a threatening manner. In the end they settled for seventy five pounds to cover Jonathon’s household, not bad for life as we know it to continue without effort.
This was a dream, a powerful dream. Jonathon, describes this on his FT podcast last weekend.
I have thought long and hard about the concept of natural capital. We are all so familiar with financial capital. We give little thought to who pays our bees for all of their hard work. More importantly who pays for the consequences of pesticides and pollution? Who pays for the bees that you kill spraying your plants with pesticides?
It seems ludicrous that we are funding scientific research into recreating bionic bees to pollinate our plants when we have the real deal in all of our gardens and public spaces. We just need to look after them.
We need to take care of our natural world, not replace it. We must stop spraying our plants with neonics. We must treasure bees before it is too late!
Instead, use organic solutions to manage your plants and introduce beneficial insects to keep out harmful bugs, such as ladybirds.
A window box, small patch of garden, a pot on your window ledge, please plant bee friendly forage to help our bees thrive and survive.
