Why We Need Pollinators

                                                           Why We Need Pollinators
                                                                         By: Ryan Hersey

      Pollinators are everywhere in the world. They are very important to humans in many ways. One way they are important, is they help pollinate flowers that can look good in a garden. But, they are important for another reason, and this is very important. So, the most important idea about pollinators that people should know, is that pollinators help pollinate plants that grow fruits and vegetables. This means, if people help save, and bring up the population of pollinators, then there might be a better chance of plants producing more fruits and vegetables.
       First off, something bad is happening to pollinators, they are dying. Pollinators are dying, because of pesticides. One piece of evidence I found while researching is, “Yet 2 out of 5 species of invertebrate pollinators such as bees and butterflies, are dying out”, (Press, March 2016). This is important, because this shows how much that species is dying out. Pesticides could have been the cause of this problem. And that is only one of the things that I wanted to talk about with pollinators.
       Another idea I had about pollinators, is why pollinators are important. Pollinators are important, because they help pollinate the flowers, and plants that produce some of our food. They pollinate plants, by going to another plant. Then they vibrating to get pollen on themselves, then they fly to another plant, and shake off all of the pollen. And that is where the pollen ends up. One example of pollinators pollinating plants to grow our food is, “Approximately 90 percent of all flowering plants require pollinators to survive”, (Author Unknown, Pollinators and Pesticides). This is important, because it shows how much plants need pollinators, and how important pollinators are to flowering plants. So as you can see, pollinators are important, because they help pollinate flowers, and plants that grow some of our food.
      Then, there are always consequences of losing pollinators. One consequence of losing pollinators, is people would not be getting as much important needs as we would usually get everyday. One piece of text evidence of pollinators pollinating most of our crops is, “Animals pollinate approximately 75 percent of the crop plants grown worldwide for food, fiber, beverages, condiments, spices, and medicines”, (Marks, May 2005). This means that all of those objects are basically pollinated by any animal or pollinator. This is important to know, because this shows a lot of things that are being pollinated. So if we start to lose more pollinators, then those things might start to become more rare in some places. And that was a consequence of losing pollinators.
      Also, I want to to talk about how people can address the pollinator issue. To address the pollinator issue, people can simply make their own natural pollinator habitat in their backyard where there is no pesticides being used. One piece of evidence I found of ways you can attract pollinators is, “The easiest way to attract native pollinators is to plant gardens or meadows that contain a diversity of native wildflowers, trees, and shrubs”, (Marks, May 2005). This is important, because it shows how easy it is to attract pollinators. This is also important, because if you do decide to start to attract pollinators, this will help the pollinators stay away from all of those nasty pesticides. It will also help pollinators with habitat loss, because they will have a habitat .And that is how people could help address the pollinator issue.
      Finally, to address these issues, MMS is making a pollinator friendly habitat with wildflowers and milkweed. This is showing how kids at MMS are being activists. One fact about making the pollinator friendly habitat, is we are actually making a compost out of all the leftover foods and garbage from the lunches, and putting that into our soil. Also, at MMS, we believe that pollinators are one of the most important types of animals for our community. So we decided to help out the pollinators, by making the habitat for them. And that is how kids at MMS are being activists for pollinators.
         In conclusion, The most important idea about pollinators that people should know about, is that they help pollinate plants that grow fruits and vegetables. This means, if people help save, and bring up the population of pollinators, then there might be a better chance of plants producing more fruits and vegetables. So, pollinators are dying, because of people and companies using pesticides for their crops. But, pollinators are important, because they help pollinate most of the food that people eat all around the world, and they also help pollinate flowers. But, one consequence of losing pollinators, is people would not be getting all of the important needs that people usually get everyday, such as medicine. And finally, people, such as the kids at Massabesic Middle School, can make their own pollinator habitat in their backyard, or even on their roof, to help address the pollinator issue that's going on around the world. And that was some ideas on pollinators, why we need them, and how we can help stop pollinators from going more extinct.