One of the most important topics of conversation today is sustainability and the current strain placed on our environment. From plastic usage to the overuse of fossil fuels – many people are doing what they can to change habits and help the planet.

One focus is the current welfare and conservation of our nation’s hardest workers. The bees.

As a nation, we rely on bees and other pollinators for several crucial things like farming, fruit, and vegetable growth, and of course, pollination that helps to fill our back gardens with flowers. We’d be lost without them! But the unfortunate reality is that the UK’s population of bees is in drastic decline, and the actions of humans are partly to blame.

We’ve taken a look into what the future holds for our gardens and farms if we continue with our damaging actions and drive the bees to extinction or unnatural migration. And the results are not pretty.

Thankfully, we have all the landscaping tools and equipment you need to construct a garden that is perfect for encouraging bees and playing your part in making our environment that little bit greener.

We spoke to Paul Hetherington, director of the charity Buglife, who shared with us exactly why we’re seeing fewer bees in our environment. He explains:

“Due to urbanisation, the human race has slowly but surely eradicated the volume of wildflowers; wildflowers that just so happen to provide crucial habitats for bees. In fact, experts say that since the late 1930’s, we have lost 97% of our wildflower-rich habitat – an area that is roughly 1.5 times the size of Wales.”

“And of course, climate change has had a considerable impact, especially on the bumblebee which prefers a milder climate. They’ve resulted in moving north to escape the rising temperatures. There’s even been active nests found in the Winter months when bumblebees should be hibernating. This means they’re trying to survive in a time where food is scarce, and this could lead to the unfortunate collapse of a colony."

So, with that said, what can we expect our most loved landscapes to look like if we were to live in a world without bees?

We all have fond memories of visiting a pond as a child – seeing what critters and plants we can collect and identify. But in a world without bees, the pond becomes a very baron place. The bright colours brought about by the purple loosestrife flower – commonly found in ponds- and the yellow tansy would disappear as we rely on bees for their pollination and distribution. The death of these plants would also be taking away crucial food for other insects like butterflies, moths, and others that are crucial to the pond’s ecosystem. This would even cause the levels of more destructive insects, like aphids, to rise due to the lack of predators.

With the ecosystem out of balance, the water would turn sour and blue algae would grow. This form of bacteria is toxic, especially to dogs, and can inflict a serious illness on your pooch, or even death.

The image of a rustic cottage nestled in the middle of the lush countryside is quintessentially British. But that image would look pretty gloomy if it wasn’t for bees. Firstly, the unrestrained flowers that give cottages their charm would quickly disappear.

Bees are known as ‘pollinators’, and we rely on them for the growth and distribution of our most loved flowers. Sunflowers, orchids, lupins, wild cow parsley, field Ppppies, buttercups and bird’s-foot trefoil would all be gone; stripping all the colour away and turning the idyllic cottage from something out of a fairy tale to something straight out of a horror film.

Public parks provide a green space for everyone, even those living in the middle of the city. Taking bees out of the equation, however, paints a whole different picture.

Due to their pollination and crucial role in many life cycles, no bees will eventually mean no trees. A lack of trees not only means no shade from the sun – causing temperatures to rise- but a massive reduction in the production of oxygen. This will massively impact the quality of our air- signified by the misty effect in the after images- especially when mixed with rising pollution levels.

With no trees, birds will lose their habitat and will be forced to migrate and find elsewhere to call home. Plus, dwindling trees and plant life means a lack of food, as birds rely on insects, fruits, and vegetation to survive. Seed-eating birds like finches and sparrows would simply die out, and the population of birds who eat but don’t rely on fruit like blackbirds, starlings, thrushes, robins and blue tits would diminish.

Our favourite fruits and vegetables are grown in abundance on farms and sometimes even in our back gardens. But we don’t just have green-fingered farmers to thank for the food on our plates and the fruit in our smoothies – it’s the bees too! Without them pollinating and helping the growth of fruit and veggies, our own nutrition levels would plummet.

Our diet would reduce to only grains as foods like potatoes, carrots, peas, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, garlic, apples, pears, raspberries and even sugar would eventually die out. Though some fruit like strawberries would still be able to grow, they would be smaller and certainly less tasty! Food would be bland, limited and the farming industry would eventually collapse.

Many of us take pride in our gardens, but in a world without bees, they would revert to a brownish wasteland. Thanks to bees having such a crucial role in our ecosystem, gardening work would boil down to desperately trying to keep what we have left of our garden alive. With no bees to encourage additional growth, most plants, shrubs, and trees would eventually die out.

Even your little herb garden would suffer, with herbs like coriander, parsley, dill, and fennel dying out without the crucial pollination from bees.