Bee Serious
Interesting piece by Scott Thill in AlterNet about Colony Collapse Disorder, as experts have taken to calling the widespread honeybee die-off. Thill turns to entomologist Dewey Caron for answers and, for the most part, winds up with a lot of 'maybes' and 'don't knows.' Which is to say, we need to get serious about investigating this thing. Two quotes worth highlighting, methinks: 
"The honeybee is so important for pollination of hundreds of agricultural crops, because humans have made it so," Caron explained. "We destroyed the natural pollinators, plowed up the area they needed to live and continued to replace their habitats with strip malls and housing developments. So, farmers have come to rely on honeybees because of mushrooming human populations and our own destructive habits to the natural ecology."And:
"Twelve cats died from tainted foodstuffs and six vets at Cornell University alone were studying the losses. Meanwhile, we have a few dedicated pathologists and bee experts on this issue. What is wrong with this picture? Twelve cats or the loss of one-fourth of America's bee colonies? Not to say the cat deaths didn't need to be investigated, but the resources we are prepared to pour into that issue versus the disappearance of our honeybees is what is out of whack."
5 Comments:
I heard that cell phone towers mess with bees internal navigation mechanism and thus the bees are getting lost and then dieing.
There have been a lot of stories circulating about both cell towers and cell phones themselves causing the bee die-off. So far, researchers say there's nothing to it. The entomologist interviewed in the story cited also dismisses it as a cause.
There may be a combination of factors at work, but for now, the investigation seems to be focusing primarily on pesticides and disease.
given the global nature and multivariate causes of the bee die-off, we have to think that it could easily be due to global warming.
Humans literally cannot live without bees, our most important pollinators.
I think Einstein said we have 4 years if we lose our bees -- that's it! After which we won't be able to grow crops. No pollinators.
The Einstein quote has also been making the rounds, but its authenticity is in doubt. And as I understand it, most grains are pollinated by wind. Any botanists or crop scientists out there who can set us straight? Finally, it's interesting to note that honey bees were not native to the Americas but were brought by European settlers. The problem is, our native pollinators, which include native bees, moths, bats and hummingbirds are also in trouble. Any entomologists who can elaborate on that? I don't want to pretend to be a know-it-all. As they say, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing...
Gee...could it bee pesticides? Shh...wouldn't want to upset the Monsanto shareholders.
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