Page 16 - Fables volume 3

See You Later, Pollinator!

The 4B Club, an informal group of pollinators meeting irregularly
to socialize and discuss matters of mutual interest, was on the verge
of dissolution. Absent a chair or moderator, the members made their
views known in a disorderly fashion.
“Listen! We can buzz and chirp about this all day: it’s time for
action!” Bird, a fiery orator, would not be still. “How many more of
us have to be killed by chemicals? How much more land and water
need to be rendered toxic and sterile? Business as usual is not an
option. People think their terrestrial bounty is a gift without strings,
free property requiring no stewardship, the loss of which will be
compensated for by the same supernatural power bestowing it in the
first place. They need a louder message! I say we all strike! On the
same day, globally! That will get some notice.”
Bee shook her head sadly. “No, Brother Bird, even that would not
work. It sounds quite heroic and might cause havoc in their food
chain, but we could never get universal participation among all
pollinators. That would cause dissension and internecine warfare.
And the participants would suffer at least as much as their intended
targets: our labor does provide us with sustenance, after all.
Otherwise we would not have co-evolved with the plant kingdom,
long before these too-clever animals came along and discovered
means of exploiting us.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Bird was exasperated.
Bee’s nature was to dance around a difficult question, but this time
she had an answer ready. “It may seem wishy-washy from some
angles, but I think we should let events run their course. At some
point humans will be forced to change. Their obtuseness is a mighty
flood soon to overflow all barriers and thresholds, killing multitudes
of them and untold billions of us. Some pollinators and what they
pollinate will survive. It is sad, but inevitable, I believe.”
A loud flapping of leathery wings heralded Bat’s rejoinder. “None
of that is a foregone conclusion. The bipeds are wiping out flora and
fauna at an increasing rate. Is it rational to hope they will wipe
themselves out in such a way and in such little time as to leave some
of us standing? No, what we need is organization, a structure, before
we go darting off blindly. True, the situation’s gravity indicates that
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