Sotomayor 1

Raizee Sotomayor
Professor Collins
ENGL 1302
6 April 2016
We Need Bees
In the fall of 2006, beekeepers and scientists alike started paying closer attention to bee
populations when keepers in the United States began reporting major disappearances in their
hives. Often drastic, these losses are still unexplainable and to further deepen the mystery, hives
are found empty, with no dead honeybee bodies in or around the hive. They are just gone. Only
the queen is left in the hive, alive, with some immature bees and a small amount of honey. The
reports in 2006 led to the phenomenon being renamed Colony Collapse Disorder. Because there
is no scientific explanation for CCD, entomologist Marla Spivak took the opportunity to attempt
to explain why the more than 20,000 bee species, including the dearly beloved honeybee, are
disappearing in her lecture at a Ted Talks conference. In the video she points out four particular
reasons why she believes the decline, especially concerning in the last decade, has occurred.
Reciprocal, sufficient, and necessary causes in Why Bees are Disappearing argues that vital
bee populations have been precariously declining since World War Two.
Spivaks first argument is used to outline her whole lecture. She states that parasites,
pesticides, monocultures, and flowerless landscapes are all factors that culminate and result in a
decrease in bee populations worldwide (Why bees). She claims these causes are interacting: bees
die from disease, parasites, pesticides, a lack of food (pollen) if they are trapped in a
monoculture, a lack of flowers and crops in urban settings or more likely, a mixture of all of
these. And if bees die there is no pollination, which leads to a lack of flowers and, more

Sotomayor 2
importantly, food crops. This argument is based on a reciprocal cause because a domino effect
has been put into motion and the bee has too many problems to face at one time. Spivak explains
that she cannot exactly know what a honeybee feels when it is sick but says that she knows what
it feels like to have the flu and how it is hard to get up and go to the store to get food when she is
sick (Why bees). She states, What if I had to travel a long distance to get to the grocery store?
And I finally got my weak body out there and I consumed in my food enough of a pesticide that I
couldnt find my way home? And this is what we mean by multiple and interacting causes of
death. (Why bees) The bees suffer one blow after the other- a weakened immune system, a lack
of biodiversity and consumption of pesticides- which prove to be too much for them to handle.
This empathic analogy helps the listener better understand her argument, but upon investigation
it seems her ideas are not only empathetic but researched and agreed upon by her colleagues. In
his article for the New Internationalist, author Wayne Ellwood states, So far no single culprit
has been found; there is no smoking gun. In fact, its turned out to be a lot more complicated.
(Why are) Since there is no explanation for CCD, no smoking gun, Spivaks theories about
multiple and interacting causes are plausible explanations for the decline over the last seventy
years.
Spivaks next argument narrows in on monocultures. She puts it bluntly saying that dead
bees equal no flowers and a destroyed food system (Why bees). Some crops and flowers require
bee pollination to grow and survive. The meticulous job of hand pollination, although possible
and being done in parts of the world like China (as seen in the video), is an extremely
undesirable job. The job includes a ladder and a paintbrush and requires the employee to mimic a
bee, distributing pollen from flower to flower. Likewise tomato plants are sometimes pollinated
with a device called a tomato tickler because only a bumblebee can release the pollen. Silly

Sotomayor 3
inventions and tedious tasks are not born of first world boredom but rather real world reality and
that reality is a sufficient cause. Lack of bees is sufficient to cause one third of the worlds crops
to fail (Why bees). The evidence for Spivaks claim that monocultures are a contributing factor
to the loss of bees is rooted in the California almond industry. Although the almonds seem like a
godsend economically it also demands millions of honeybees to be trucked in from all over the
country and pollinate the sole crop of Californias billion dollar monoculture empire. Not only do
the bees have to be trucked in, they have to be trucked out. Spivak explains After bloom the
almond orchards are a vast and flowerless landscape (Why bees). Although there are other types
of tomatoes that do not require pollination and methods like planting a variety of other plants to
disrupt the monotony, Spivaks fellow scholars gathered research to address concerns about a
lack of pollination and the effects low pollination has on food and published their findings in the
Journal of Applied Ecology. Their research focused on the amount of wild bees that visited
almond flowers and their frequency. They summarized their findings by saying wild bee species
visited almond flowers but only in orchards with adjacent semi-natural habitat or vegetation
strips (Wild pollination). After evaluating all the published research and comparing it to
Spivaks arguments stating that an absence of bees disrupts our food production is accurate.
Since bee populations have been cut in half since World War Two, more research has
been conducted to answer the question of what has changed since then that could help explain
the loss. Marla Spivak states that after the war farming techniques changed (Why bees).
Particularly, plants like alfalfa and clover, cover crops that are natural fertilizers, were replaced
by synthetic fertilizers (Why bees). Taking away cover crops took away diversity, thus creating
the aforementioned monster monocultures and once again proving Spivaks argument to be a
sufficient cause. Lack of cover crops is sufficient to cause a monoculture. Not only was the

Sotomayor 4
alfalfa and clover good for the soil it also broke up the monotony since bees also pollinate those
crops as well. In Wayne Ellwoods report he points out the extended benefits: Bee pollinated
forage and hay crops like alfalfa and clover are also used to feed the animals that supply meat,
milk and cheese. It doesnt matter whether youre a vegetarian or a meat-eater. Bees put food on
the table (Why are). His statement backs Spivaks. The lack of cover crops led to a reduction in
food for the bees further jeopardizing their existence.
Pesticides are also a major topic among farmers and scientists. About halfway through
her lecture she explains, Pesticides have become necessary because of monocultures that put out
a feast for crop pests. It is a necessary cause because pesticides are necessary for monocultures.
Ellwood also mentions pesticides. His research agrees with Spivak on this topic as well
explaining how bees can consume a lethal dose or enough to get dizzy and cites how France and
other European Countries have banned pesticides and have begun reporting slight increases since
the bans.
Overall, Spivaks uses sound facts in her arguments that are trustworthy and lead to her
ability to create strong arguments. She explains them well and those watching the lecture are able
to understand what she is trying to teach. Through her use of reciprocal, sufficient and necessary
causal arguments Spivak achieves her goal of educating everyone about the importance of bees
and need to take action to increase global populations.

Sotomayor 5
Annotated Works Cited
Ellwood, Wayne. Why Are They Dying?. New Internationalist 425 (2009): 4-7 Academic
Search Complete. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
This article goes over similar topics Marla Spivak speaks about in her video.
Many things in this article help to confirm her findings. Because they both come to the
same conclusions in their research, it will help to determine whether or not there are any
fallacies in her causal arguments.
Klein, Alexandra-Maria, et al. Wild Pollination Services To California Almond Rely On SemiNatural Habitat. Journal of Applied Ecology 49.3 (2012): 723-732. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.
This article also addresses something specific in Marla Spivaks video. The way
honeybees are used in giant monoculture farms in the California almond industry
contribute to her ideas as a reason why bees are dying. This evidence will also help me to
determine if there are any fallacies in her lecture.
Spivak, Marla. Marla Spivak: Why bees are disappearing. YouTube. YouTube, 17 Sept. 2013.
Web. 8 Mar. 2016.
This video is a good length and has a lot of arguments in it. The subject is also
interesting and there is most likely a lot of other works published on the same subject that
I can use when I analyze it. It should be an easy topic to write about.