Fair point. I’m speaking from a North American perspective, but others have pointed out they may be a native or long naturalized plant.

Ultimately, planting species that are from your local area is better for the native bees of of your area as they are adapted to them.

Thank you, I’ll look into that and consider the impact of it on my beliefs :)

This! Dandelion pollen does not contain all the amino acids necessary to support native bees. However, because they come up first and bees often become attracted to the first things they feed on, they can actually make bees addicted to them. Because they can’t meet their nutritional requirements with them, they die.

Plant native plants people!

I’m five by five, B.

Personally, I care because I love honey, farm grown food, and they are a poster child for all bees. Without them, there is certainly a lot less care for native bees. While yes they are primarily important for large monocropped farms, that’s your food. Like, so much of your food. Native bee populations aren’t sufficient or interested in pollinating our food crops, so yes we should really care.

Specifically, honey bees (Apis mellifera). Native bees that aren’t colony dwellers may not be impacted the same by the mites.

I would argue that of the three items you listed (bananas, coffee, chocolate) that the main reason those items are “cheap” is exploitation of the workers and economies of the global south.

https://daily.jstor.org/fruit-geopeelitics-americas-banana-republics/

This is just one popular science article on the topic, and it just brushes the surface of how colonial politics have stripped the global south of resources while simultaneously building capital in the global north.

This single pane comic is the jist of it.