I recently discovered that we are losing honey bees at an astounding rate and it touched something deep down inside me so I felt I had to do something about it. I am hoping this article will highlight the plight of the honey bee for those people who do not already know anything about it and to also try and educate people a little in understanding some of the things we can do to try and make life a little bit easier for the honey bee.

Through pollination, the work of these tiny creatures includes pollination of more than 100 crops which help to feed the world. These include fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. The incredible work done by honey bees generates $15 billion in agricultural revenue each year. So vital is this work that without it, 2/3 of an average American's food would be lost.

In the last three years, more than 1/3 of all honey bee colonies has died. Some of this loss can be attributed to what researchers call Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes honey bees to desert their hives and die. This phenomenon has been reported by many states in the US, as well as in other countries. While researchers haven't yet determined the cause of this phenomenon they believe factors which may lead to colony collapse could be environmental - things like viruses, mites, and chemical toxins. This rate of colony loss translates into serious food supply shortages worldwide, and will effect the type and amount of food we will have to put into our mouths.

Bees are fascinating, and most of us know very little about these vitally important little creatures. Consider the amount of work a bee must do to produce one pound of honey: a honey bee can pollinate up to 100 flowers each time it makes a voyage from its hive. At this rate, a honey bee would need to make 200,000 voyages and pollinate 2 million flowers in order to gather enough pollen to make one pound of honey. An average honey bee colony, consisting of around 50,000 bees, can produce between 60 and 100 pounds of honey per year. Since a worker bee only lives between 1 and 4 months, it will produce 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey during its life. So next time you're in the grocery store and you see a shelf full of honey, imagine how much work it has taken to make it!

Although they can't talk, honey bees communicate with each other by dancing. Bees hand out samples of nectar to hive members and then perform a dance that gives others in the hive specific directions to find a particularly rich source of pollen. The quality of the pollen source will determine the length and intensity of the dance.

Avoid the use of pesticides and herbicides. Fill your garden with flowers and plants that will attract bees (and still make your garden look great!) such as mint, daisies, strawberries, raspberries, lavender, salvia, asters, sunflowers and verbena. Use plants which will flower throughout the growing season. This will provide a hearty food supply for the bees. Often the soil and trees in your garden are perfect nesting locations for bees. Keep your garden bee-friendly! Support organizations which are working to save the honey bees. This can be as simple as eating ice cream or sporting a great T-shirt! Haagen Dazs Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream and its associated products are helping to raise funds and awareness. So you can be fashionable, well-fed and environmental all at once - fantastic!