Disappearing Honey Bees
Seems our honey bees are disappearing at an alarming rate. Now, usually, I wouldn't be too worried about this, as I am a well-known avoider of buzzing insects, but this has caught my attention. Honey bees are great pollinators. As much as I dislike them, I have a very healthy respect for them. I really like berries - all kinds of berries - and therefore I know we need honey bees.
So what's happening? Scientists don't know, but they have at least named the problem - Colony Collapse Disorder. Seems the bees are leaving the hives and just disappearing, or the beekeepers are opening up the hives to find thousands of little dead bee bodies. Very sad.
So what's causing it? So far I've heard theories about cell phones, stress, cumulative effects of pesticides and GMO plants. Cell phones disrupt the bee homing signals and they just get horribly, horribly lost. As for stress, bees are actually trucked thousands of miles every year to pollinate our crops. Maybe they have just had it and are having little bee nervous breakdowns. Or, more sinisterly, GMO plants have something evil embedded in their modified DNA and it has had a horrible, and unexpected, effect on the bees.
I have been hearing about this phenomenon in the alternative press for some time, and it has even hit some of the mainstream press. But it has caught the American Senate's attention (http://www.chewswise.com/chews/2007/04/senate_hearing_.html). Take a look at what one beekeeper had to say:
* that a third of all food crops rely on bees for pollination;
* that California almonds - 80 percent of the global crop - require more than 1 million bee hives for pollination.
* that the American honey bee population has dropped 30 percent over the past two decades;
* that domestically produced honey accounts for only 31 percent of all sales, a figure that has been steadily declining.
And you gotta love this beekeeper. One of the Senators asked if cell phones were the cause of the decline. His response? "On the cell phone issue, we took all the phones away from the bees," Brady quipped. Nice.
But this is a harbinger issue, if you ask me. First bees, next berries, then ????
Pity the poor bees, to be sure, but pay attention to this issue too. Oh, and buy honey and almond futures.
So what's happening? Scientists don't know, but they have at least named the problem - Colony Collapse Disorder. Seems the bees are leaving the hives and just disappearing, or the beekeepers are opening up the hives to find thousands of little dead bee bodies. Very sad.
So what's causing it? So far I've heard theories about cell phones, stress, cumulative effects of pesticides and GMO plants. Cell phones disrupt the bee homing signals and they just get horribly, horribly lost. As for stress, bees are actually trucked thousands of miles every year to pollinate our crops. Maybe they have just had it and are having little bee nervous breakdowns. Or, more sinisterly, GMO plants have something evil embedded in their modified DNA and it has had a horrible, and unexpected, effect on the bees.
I have been hearing about this phenomenon in the alternative press for some time, and it has even hit some of the mainstream press. But it has caught the American Senate's attention (http://www.chewswise.com/chews/2007/04/senate_hearing_.html). Take a look at what one beekeeper had to say:
* that a third of all food crops rely on bees for pollination;
* that California almonds - 80 percent of the global crop - require more than 1 million bee hives for pollination.
* that the American honey bee population has dropped 30 percent over the past two decades;
* that domestically produced honey accounts for only 31 percent of all sales, a figure that has been steadily declining.
And you gotta love this beekeeper. One of the Senators asked if cell phones were the cause of the decline. His response? "On the cell phone issue, we took all the phones away from the bees," Brady quipped. Nice.
But this is a harbinger issue, if you ask me. First bees, next berries, then ????
Pity the poor bees, to be sure, but pay attention to this issue too. Oh, and buy honey and almond futures.
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