What does bees being extinct have to do with the human race?

Einstein says that if bees disappear from the globe that humans will have 4 more years to live.Will somebody please explain what the bees has to do with us and why it's 4 years?What does bees being extinct have to do with the human race?
Bees pollinate about 1/3 of all plants, and most of our crops.





Bees are also so numerous that their disappearance would cause a collapse in the food chain, starting with many species of birds.





...








EDIT: Julia, many other species can pollinate too. Butterflies, hummingbirds, dragonflies, plain old flies.... it's just that the bees make up the bulk of it.What does bees being extinct have to do with the human race?
';Honeybees first appeared on earth around 80 million years ago, and from the beginning have played a key role in our survival. Most fruit trees and vegetable species are entirely dependent on bees to produce, and there is no commercially viable artificial replacement for natural pollination. The bees are directly responsible for one of every three bites of food humans consume. Einstein is reported to have said that without bees, mankind would have only four years to live, and we may be about to find out just how true that is, because bees around the world are disappearing. The massive die-offs, first reported in November of 2006, are now the subject of international emergency research as the devastation spreads and scientists race to discover the cause of this ecological disaster. In a matter of six months, up to 80% of the honeybees in the US vanished. Orchards in France have been decimated, and farmers in China have been reduced to paying laborers to pollinate orchards by hand. Could it be a disease? Or is it caused by pesticides, genetically modified foods, or the stress that comes from increasingly industrialized beekeeping operations? Whatever is happening, we must solve the mystery soon, and correct the problem, or face consequences we hardly dare imagine.';


watch the PBS series Nature episode ';Silence of the Bees';


http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/鈥?/a>
You heard the hype of the Weapons of Mass Destruction? This disinformation is so absurd that rather then give it to a unidentifiable reliable source they gave it to perhaps the most eminent Scientist of the last century, Einstein. No one can tie it to him. He can't deny he said it. We believe it. The inuendo,like the WMD given to kill Saddam, is that we'll all die If we don't do something. If all food will ceases to exist, we'll all die. The rumor mongers don't spell it out. they let your fears fill in the blanks. Most of the American Native plants can thrive without the honey bee. The grasses of the world, rice, wheat, barley etc can thrive without honey bees. Beans, peas and other legumes can mostly thrive without honey bees, The potato framily, tomatoes, peppers, ground cherries, Tomotillas and potatoes all thrive without honey bees. Mono Cultured foods of non self pollinating crops would suffer greatly. Almonds, Apples,cherries etc.that must cross pollinate would dwindle to usess almost nonusabe wild strains. Plants like strawberries, cucumbers etc that need multiply visits by pollinators would be reduced by as much as 50 percent in productivity.


The term ';Flower Fidelity'; is what makes the honey bee so important to our food supply. While they are foraging honey bees will pollinate only one type of flower at a time. If they are after apples thats all they will visit until the supply is exhausted. If they are visiting almonds that's all they will visit. We wont disappear in the 4 promised years. Our food availabily differential will certainly suffer though. The key buzz words of the day are that ';Every third bite we take is because of honey bees';. Consider that means, two out of three bites are not dependent on them. Hitler's Goeble would have been proud to have initiated such a propaganda ladened lie and watched the unrest that ensued. ';Tell a lie often enough and it becomes the truth';. Said the Minister of Propaganda Herr Goebles. Do you beleive we'll perish in 4 years without the honey bee? Do you think a thinking man like Einstien, with the knowledge he had available would have made the prediction of us going extinct with the Bees? I know I don't.
Most flowered plants are pollinated by bees. Flowered plants include peas, beans, squash, watermelon, and thousands of others.





A very few kinds of flowers are pollinated by bats. Saguaro cactus is one of those.





Many food plants are pollinated by wind. Wheat and corn are among them.





I don't know about the 4 years part, but it would be devastating.



Bees pollinate flowers, and the only organisms on Earth that can do so


If flowers aren't pollinated, they can't release chemicals outside that we need to function. If we don't have those chemicals...we die. Catch my drift?
bees pollinate the plants


and we need the plants to breathe, cos they create carbon dioxide or oxygen or something.
no honey...flower species decrease...plant life declines...rains r affected...no rain = no water = no humans!
it's really complicated...i dunno how to explain, but bees pollinate!
Bee's pollinate trees and plants to make our food, so without food, were dead!
where will we get our honey? we can't survive without honey .