The following editorial appeared in the October 24 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
It’s usually good when people mind their beeswax. It’s even better when people mind the bees.
That’s what Vicki Beard and Ernesto Guzman are doing, and we should all be grateful for their work.
Beard is being honoured in Washington today for her efforts to protect pollinator habitats and foster new ones. The Guelph councillor joins a select group from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico in being so honoured. And Guzman, an environmental biology professor at the University of Guelph, is embarking on important research into one of the great mysteries of the past year — the mysterious collapse of bee colonies in Ontario, part of widespread devastation to the industry across North America.
The massive die-off of honeybees, which Guzman believes may be linked to two parasites, is putting crop production across the continent at risk. About a third of our diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, primarily honeybees. Beard and Guzman deserve recognition for focusing awareness on the importance of these pollinators.