Commentary: EarthTalk by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss - Bumblebees must be protected Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss March 4, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail Whether you’ve noticed it or not, there are far fewer bees around nowadays. One-quarter of the world’s 20,000 bee species are in precipitous decline or have already gone extinct since 1990. A range of causes are to blame, including indiscriminate overuse of pesticides, loss of plants, and habitat destruction from human encroachment. But the latest and greatest threat is now climate change, which is warping the bees’ environments (blooming seasons, plant diversity, etc.) at a faster rate than they are able to adapt.