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What's more tragic than Shakespeare?

I have been living in a rental house for the last two years and noticed two large hives embedded within the east wall so I have had ample time to observe and discern their nature and possibly therefore deduce the cause and ramifications of their decline in population. I will start with the ramifications and then proceed to the most obvious candidate behind their waning numbers.

Through direct observation of their habitat over the day/night cycle and even throughout two annual cycles of the seasons. I have deduced that bees are in fact critical to the planets chemistry. Allow me to explain. We all know that the bees pollinate the flowers which not only propagates most species of plant but also increases it's chances to adapt to any significant or subtle change in it's environment. The higher the seed production. The greater the chance for the evolution to continue. The more leaves are necessary to maintain the photosynthetic process which entails drawing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. So plants are regulating the temperature of the planet but could not effectively do so without the assistance of our furry little winged friends, the bees. A decline in bee population means a decline in most flora's ability to adapt and regulate our planets surface temperature and internal temperature to some degree. Without the bees, all life on earth may indeed be in jeopardy. And we, us, all of us, I am afraid to admit are directly to blame. Which brings me to the smoking gun, in the form, of a light-bulb.

Our porch-light is ofcourse turned on at night. The bees having evolved to track the polarized light, mistake it for the sun. They continuously fly into the bulb. The heat and light even from a 60 watt bulb enough to blind them permanantly, which to a bee, is certain death. Now I am not a mathematician and the skeptic would surely point out.

" Dude, it's one bee" .

Yes, and I agree, but one bee, multiplied by one light, multiplied by one hundred million porch-lights in this country alone that did not exist much more than a hundred years ago. Light pollution is killing the bees and therefore dooming us to extinction. Don't panic their is still time. I ask of you now that if you agree with my train of thought and would support my conclusions would you ask your neighbor, your congressman, your president to please not let this happen. To please devise a suitable deterrent from what will most likely be a horrible fate for us all. It may be as simple as inventing a low wattage incandescent bulb which to my knowledge does not emit polarized light and therefore would not draw the bees out from their gentle slumber only to find that the sun has fallen to earth and this world, our world is lost to us all.

Learn more about this author, Gerald Drueppel.
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