It's really easy to dismiss the claims that a rapidly declining bee population is a bad thing. You're not a fan of honey, so it's not like they really do anything for you, right? Wrong. This barren foodscape is pretty much what we'll be left with if bees go extinct.
The trouble is that bees pollinate a heck of a lot of stuff. No one's suggesting that they are the sole pollinator for everything, but they're pretty much the only ones that impact on the stuff we eat day to day. Flowers and trees that don't get their dose of pollen don't produce fruit and vegetables, which in turn means we don't get to sink our teeth into the foods we love. How about a world without avocados, apples, carrots or even onions? But it's more than that. Bees pollinate plants which in turn feed other species, so the knock-on effects of bee extinction could be far greater than the loss of a few of your favourite fruits and veg.
The image above, created by Whole Foods, really puts it all into perspective. Below is what it should look like, for anyone who's not made it into the few, super-expensive Whole Foods shops we have in the UK. [Whole Foods via io9]