We need them more than you might think.
Earlier this week, at the White House Easter Egg Roll, President Obama sat down to read to a group of children, only to be interrupted by a bee.
Right in the middle of "Where the Wild Things Are" (awesome book, BTW), a girl in the crowd yelled out, "Ah! A bee!" This caught the president's attention.
Trying to calm the children, the president told them that bees are actually good.
Not to mention that acting naturally is pretty sound advice when it comes to keeping their stingers at bay.
Wait, what are good?
But really, bees are good. It's true.
We need bees to pollinate a lot of the plants we eat.
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the anther of a plant to the stigma. This allows plants to be fertilized. As expertly explained in this video by Earth Rangers, the bee's role in plant fertilization is huge!
They're responsible for pollinating a third of our food. Without them, we wouldn't have any of these fruits and vegetables:
They're responsible for $15 billion per year in crops!
Bees are responsible for the entire world's supply of honey.
Not only is honey delicious, but it also has a number of other useful qualities. Did you know that honey has been used successfully to treat wounds because of its medicinal and antibacterial properties?
This is one of those cases where "They're probably more afraid of you than you are of them" rings true.
Bees don't want to sting you. I mean, I'm not an expert on the inner thoughts of bees, but they're not predisposed to stinging people. They have better things to do — like make honey, pollinate plants, and so on.
While "wild things" might not be scared of bees, a lot of people are, and that's OK.
Some people, such as those who are allergic to bee stings, have good reason to be cautious around bees. But the rest of us should do our best to stay calm (and to not flail or scream like the kids in the video were doing). If you don't bother them, they're not likely to bother you.
So, yeah! Bees are good.