--- title: Obama Wants to Save The Bees description: New initiative will combat the decline in pollinators canonical: https://time.com/2907230/the-white-house-wants-to-save-the-bees/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-20T19:36:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:39.201Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Wants to Save The Bees og:description: New initiative will combat the decline in pollinators og:url: https://time.com/2907230/the-white-house-wants-to-save-the-bees/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e739cc21ef1bb8/698698a936176071a290cb9f/beekeper-bees-colony-bee.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2784 og:image:height: 1566 og:image:alt: Exchange Busy Beekeeper og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Wants to Save The Bees twitter:description: New initiative will combat the decline in pollinators twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e739cc21ef1bb8/698698a936176071a290cb9f/beekeper-bees-colony-bee.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The White House Wants to Save the Bees > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=64f1a20f-fa68-4796-a018-e360122b8256&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME Explains: Why Bees Are Going Extinct [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Explains: Why Bees Are Going Extinct](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dZuiDonP.m3u8) (1:41)  _Published 2013-08-07. The bees are dying and we're to blame. TIME's Bryan Walsh explains colony collapse disorder, and why bees are on the verge of extinction._  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jun 20, 2014 7:36 PM UTC  Beekeeper Alan Clingenpeel shows the inside of a bee hive in his apiary at his home on May 23, 2014 in Pearcy, Ark. Beekeeper Alan Clingenpeel shows the inside of a bee hive in his apiary at his home on May 23, 2014 in Pearcy, Ark. Mara Kuhn—AP  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jun 20, 2014 7:36 PM UTC The White House created a new task force Friday to study and combat the recent [precipitous decline in the number of bees](http://time.com/559/the-plight-of-the-honeybee/) in the United States. The Pollinator Health Task Force will also undertake efforts to increase public awareness of the issue and boost conservation partnerships between the public and private sectors. “Given the breadth, severity, and persistence of pollinator losses, it is critical to expand Federal efforts and take new steps to reverse pollinator losses and help restore populations to healthy levels,” President Barack Obama wrote in a presidential memorandum. The President’s announcement comes in response to a [problem](http://time.com/559/the-plight-of-the-honeybee/) with grave implications for farmers and consumers. At least 90 commercial crops harvested in North America rely on honey bees including nuts, fruits, and vegetables, according to a [White House fact sheet](http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/20/fact-sheet-economic-challenge-posed-declining-pollinator-populations). Pollinators also have a profound economic impact: They contribute more than $24 billion dollars to the U.S. economy. The plan announced on Friday, which includes measures to research the issue and develop pollinator habitats, marks the latest step in the White House’s attempt to address the the decline. The President requested $50 million to combat the program in his 2015 budget proposal. ## Transcript >> Albert Einstein once supposedly said that if bees disappeared from the face of the earth, mankind would only have four years left to live. There was no evidence that he actually said that, but he does touch on a real concern because the honeybees are disappearing. >> Those are all dead. All [ unk ] >> It's like that. >> The term is called colony collapse disorder and it refers to something that's been happening with honey beehives over the last decade or so. Suddenly, hives are dying. Bees are fleeing the hives for reasons we can't really understand. We lost 43 percent of bee colonies over the last year. That's important 'cause honeybees are a key part of agriculture. They pollinate a number of fruits and vegetables, from almonds to blueberries to apples to cherries, scores of other fruits. There's a number of possible reasons that's causing the colonies of honeybees to collapse. One is pesticides. There's a new class of chemicals called neonicotinoids. They have an impact on bee nervous systems. They have navigation problems. They have flying problems. It seems to kill them in large numbers. Another are parasites and mites that actually attack the beehives themselves. One is called the Varroa mite. It's been around for about 20 years and it's been probably the biggest single cause of bee loss in that time. And there's also the simple that bees are running out of nutrition. They usually depend on flowers, wilderness, wild spaces in order to pollinate, in order to gather pollen for their own hives. But increasingly, farmers, because the price of corn and soya bean has gone up so much in recent years, have been replacing all that open area with crops. And as a result, bees are encountering what's almost like a food desert for them. But the honeybees really do disappear. It's not likely that mankind will follow them in four years, but certainly, our dinners would become a lot less colorful and a lot less varied. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2907230/the-white-house-wants-to-save-the-bees/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2907230/the-white-house-wants-to-save-the-bees/"},"headline":"The White House Wants to Save the Bees","datePublished":"2014-06-20T19:36:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:39.201Z","description":"New initiative will combat the decline in pollinators","url":"https://time.com/2907230/the-white-house-wants-to-save-the-bees/","keywords":["Environment","Barack Obama","Agriculture","Bees","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e739cc21ef1bb8/698698a936176071a290cb9f/beekeper-bees-colony-bee.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e739cc21ef1bb8/698698a936176071a290cb9f/beekeper-bees-colony-bee.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Exchange Busy Beekeeper","caption":"Exchange Busy Beekeeper","creditText":"Mara Kuhn—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2907230/the-white-house-wants-to-save-the-bees/","name":"The White House Wants to Save the Bees"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Explains: Why Bees Are Going Extinct","description":"The bees are dying and we're to blame. 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