Debunked Myths

The alarming claim that 'if bees disappeared, humans would follow in four years' has become environmentalism's dramatic warning, though there's no evidence Einstein said it. This suggests absolute dependency where bee extinction triggers immediate global famine.

Agricultural reality is more complex. While bees are crucial for many fruits, vegetables, and nuts—contributing to about one-third of food production—staple crops providing most human calories don't rely on them. Wheat, rice, and corn are wind-pollinated; potatoes and bananas are propagated vegetatively.

The real crisis would be nutritional rather than caloric: we'd lose most fruits, many vegetables, nuts, and dietary diversity, but basic survival calories would remain. This myth's power comes from transforming abstract biodiversity loss into tangible human survival threat, though the reality of less food variety and damaged ecosystems is concerning enough.