What has wings, contributes to society by pollinating 35 percent of the world’s food supply and is slowly becoming extinct? You guessed it, they are bees.

Bees are not just for making honey. They play such a vital role in pollinating food supply. One third of everything we eat depends on honeybees. Foods such as zucchini, apricots and almonds are pollinated by bees. It is safe to say without bees, mankind is in danger too. Human lives depend on the lives of honeybees.

It is no surprise that the population of bees is declining. The population of commercial honeybees in America has declined by 40 percent since 2006. This dramatic decline is extremely concerning.

There are three main reasons why the population of bees are declining. The first being that their habitats are being destroyed. A lot of their habitats are destroyed to make more farm land. Second is climate change. Whatever land they do have left over is being changed and leaving less and less space for these bees to roam. But probably the most prominent reason for their decline is the rampant use of chemicals on crops.

In attempt to try to get the word out to save bees, Cheerios launched a campaign called #BringBacktheBees. In this campaign, they took Buzz the Bee off the box and are sending 100 million packets of wildflower seeds.

“Buzz Bee is off the box to help his pollinator friends who are in trouble. Join the mission to #bringbackthebees,” said the Cheerios Twitter account.

The company is encouraging people to plant these wildflower seeds and show what has grown. Wildflowers are bee-friendly habitats where they can collect pollen and nectar and feed their young.

It is not too late to make a difference. The more everyone contributes to making sure bees have a solid habitat to live in, the more bees can reproduce and the population can increase again. It is time to #bringbackthebees.