Big Problems For the Little Bee
Below is a post I blogged about in Oct 2007. Six years later the story continues though with a bit more interesting yet frightening information.
Have you been following the story on what's happening with the honey bees? I have and I am captivated and horrified. Apparently they have been vanishing from hives - like zapped up to the mother ship. The ones that remain are usually dead! Bee keepers and farmers are beside themselves with anxiety and fear...and we should be concerned too.
Without bees, there goes our fruits, vegetables and flowers. Well, fruits and vegetables may still be available but in extremely limited supply and at prices that may be astronomical! And this is not a someday-it-may-happen sci-fi kind of story. We may be experiencing the effects of little to no pollination by next summer.
Scientists have been researching this phenomenon and have come up with a very scary label called "Colony Collapse Disorder". Yikes! That DOES have a foreboding ring to it, doesn't it?
They are unsure as to all the causes of CCD but some that I found intriguing, and frightening are:
Bees, usually viewed as a nuisance...bearers of stingers and disruptors of picnics...are actually mirrors, reflectors of our human lives. Are we not impacted by the use of pesticides? And poor nutrition? And who among us has not suffered from the results of a move, let alone many moves made involuntarily every couple of weeks?
And lastly, ponder this one word: STRESS! It's not enough that we run around day after day in a constant state of stress but now we have extended our stressors to an insect - and one we rely upon to help feed us. Can we teach a bee to slow down, meditate, practice yoga, breathe? Unlikely. Busy as a bee and all that. But what about the environmental factors that are causing our devoted bees to become ill? Surely we CAN address some of those. For our own sakes. One out of three bites of food each of us takes is dependant on the honeybee. This is not a minor little problem.
Next time you bite into a crunchy apple, pop a delicious red strawberry into your mouth, or admire the colorful variety of veggies lining a salad bar, give thanks to the honey bee.
And now, rather than just give thanks to the bee, what can each of us do to help insure its survival? Watch The Vanishing of the Bee, that might give us some ideas.
Have you been following the story on what's happening with the honey bees? I have and I am captivated and horrified. Apparently they have been vanishing from hives - like zapped up to the mother ship. The ones that remain are usually dead! Bee keepers and farmers are beside themselves with anxiety and fear...and we should be concerned too.
Without bees, there goes our fruits, vegetables and flowers. Well, fruits and vegetables may still be available but in extremely limited supply and at prices that may be astronomical! And this is not a someday-it-may-happen sci-fi kind of story. We may be experiencing the effects of little to no pollination by next summer.
Scientists have been researching this phenomenon and have come up with a very scary label called "Colony Collapse Disorder". Yikes! That DOES have a foreboding ring to it, doesn't it?
They are unsure as to all the causes of CCD but some that I found intriguing, and frightening are:
- Pesticides (The seeds that farmers are using now, rather than spraying on pesticides, have been coated with systemic pesticides or the crops are irrigated with pesticides. When bees are brought in by their bee keepers and left for weeks to pollinate the crops, they pick up these pesticides and carry them back to the hive. There may be no noticeable difference for weeks but eventually the pesticide is expressed in the pollen and nectar. These pesticides impair navigation, affect the brain, weaken the immune system and disrupt digestion.)
- Poor nutrition (Some bee keepers feed their hives sugar water rater than honey)
- An "AIDS-like" virus which lowers the immune system (Pesticide manifestation)
- Moving ALOT! (Hives are rented out by bee keepers to farmers for weeks at a time for pollination purposes and then they are moved to another farm to begin again (And placed in fields where pesticide use is very heavy. Some bee keepers are no longer renting out their hives anywhere near farms that use particular pesticides.) 95% of everything we eat today is treated with pesticides. That makes eating organic a whole lot more attractive, doesn't it?
- And finally...drum roll please...STRESS!!!!
Bees, usually viewed as a nuisance...bearers of stingers and disruptors of picnics...are actually mirrors, reflectors of our human lives. Are we not impacted by the use of pesticides? And poor nutrition? And who among us has not suffered from the results of a move, let alone many moves made involuntarily every couple of weeks?
And lastly, ponder this one word: STRESS! It's not enough that we run around day after day in a constant state of stress but now we have extended our stressors to an insect - and one we rely upon to help feed us. Can we teach a bee to slow down, meditate, practice yoga, breathe? Unlikely. Busy as a bee and all that. But what about the environmental factors that are causing our devoted bees to become ill? Surely we CAN address some of those. For our own sakes. One out of three bites of food each of us takes is dependant on the honeybee. This is not a minor little problem.
Next time you bite into a crunchy apple, pop a delicious red strawberry into your mouth, or admire the colorful variety of veggies lining a salad bar, give thanks to the honey bee.
And now, rather than just give thanks to the bee, what can each of us do to help insure its survival? Watch The Vanishing of the Bee, that might give us some ideas.
Employees at Wholefoods wearing bee somethings on their heads to promote bee awareness
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