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--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">FROM: Huffington Post</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/15/salad-bar-without-bees_n_7063870.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/15/salad-bar-without-bees_n_7063870.html</a></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">By Nick Visser</p><p class="MsoNormal">4/15/15</p><p class="MsoNormal" style><b><span style="font-size:24.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This Is What Your Salad Bar Would Look Like Without Bees (And Other Pollinators)</span></b></p><p><img border="0" width="480" height="320" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D07841.AEF2A7D0" alt="This is What Your Salad Bar Looks Like without Pollinators"></p><p>By now, you probably have your <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/19/whole-foods-salad-bar-win-it-you-can_n_5844160.html" target="_hplink">salad bar game</a> down to a science. Arugula, beets, feta, sunflower seeds and a touch of balsamic vinaigrette? A little bit of falafel if you want to feel fancy? Well, without bees, butterflies, beetles and their pollinating brethren, tough luck.</p><p>For the past two years, Whole Foods Market has temporarily removed all of the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/15/supermarket-without-bees_n_3442938.html" target="_hplink">produce</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/17/store-without-bees_n_5500380.html" target="_hplink">dairy</a> dependent on pollinators from one of its supermarkets to showcase the drastically different selections shoppers would have if the tiny animals disappeared. As part of this year's <a href="http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/pollinators" target="_hplink">Share The Buzz</a> campaign, the company removed 37 items that could become far harder to find at the salad bar if <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/02/pesticides-honey-bees_n_6997788.html" target="_hplink">current declines in pollinator populations</a> continue.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"I think we need to consider pollinators as a staple in our supply chain," Errol Schweizer, Whole Foods executive global grocery coordinator, told The Huffington Post. "You take a look at the types of products that are pollinated ... I'm not sure how much of a grocery business there would be without them." <br><br>Nearly <a href="http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/10/25_pollinator.shtml" target="_hplink">a third of all food produced worldwide</a> is dependent on pollinators, from the familiar honeybee and butterfly, to lesser-known creatures like the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caSRAz9Ubvc&list=PLDFmQ1Ea1sUUsAA_jGbhX6zNvHIF_aT1i&index=3" target="_hplink">hawk moth</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bu9aWPFRG8&list=PLDFmQ1Ea1sUUsAA_jGbhX6zNvHIF_aT1i&index=4" target="_hplink">firefly</a>. But many populations of these winged creatures are in decline, despite <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/25/honeybees-usda_n_4852443.html?utm_hp_ref=bees" target="_hplink">efforts by the USDA</a> and independent organizations to halt things like <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/15/american-honeybee-bee-colonies-died_n_5330974.html" target="_hplink">colony collapse</a> and a vast drop in <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/09/monarch-habitat-fish-and-wildlife_n_6648022.html" target="_hplink">migrating monarch butterflies</a>. Nearly <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/19/us-environment-bees-idUSKBN0MF2C820150319" target="_hplink">a tenth of Europe's wild bees</a> are at risk of extinction, and a government report released last year said honeybee populations have been <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/15/us-usda-honeybees-report-idUSKBN0DV12120140515" target="_hplink">dying at unsustainable rates</a>. <br><br>Eric Mader, the pollinator program co-director for the <a href="http://www.xerces.org/" target="_hplink">Xerces Society</a>, told HuffPost that the single most important thing anyone can do to help pollinators is simply plant local wildflowers. <br><br>"It seems like an overly simplistic solution, but it really is the most significant step that all of us can take, whether you're a farmer with a field or if you live in New York City and your only garden is a flowerpot," he said. "That one pot can hold a sunflower, and if every person puts a sunflower on their balcony, that's an entire garden right there." <br><br>So, what exactly would disappear without pollinators? Including favorites like chocolate (<a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/animals/flies.shtml" target="_hplink">pollinated by tiny flies</a>) and almonds (<a href="http://www.almonds.com/growers/pollination" target="_hplink">a honeybee creation</a>), salad bar staples like broccoli, cucumbers and tomatoes could vanish. Take a look below, and if you're interested in learning more, you can head to your local Whole Foods store and party for the pollinators on Saturday, April 18.</p></div></body></html>