Climate change is killing bees and butterflies

Believe it or not, we are losing bees and butterflies to global warming.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) added the gorgeous monarch butterflies to the endangered species earlier this week.

Native bumble bees of North America are on the verge of extinction, slowly but surely dying due to heat intolerance.

In the last two decades, 90% of the bumble bee population has been wiped off the face of the earth.

Important for crops
Insects such as bees and butterflies are natural pollinators. So, what if these pollinators don’t exist?

According to the UN, almost three-quarters of global food crops depend on pollination. If the bees vanished, farmers won’t be able to grow plants such as cocoa, coffee, almonds, and cherries.

An optimal amount of pollination is necessary to get a high-yield, quality crop. If it is not efficient, it would cause certain fruit and vegetables to become expensive and rarer, leading to a less-nutritional diet in humans.

However, staple food such as rice, wheat, and corn will not be affected as they depend on wind pollination.