The honeybees are still dying

[DainBramaged]

The eerie mystery of the vanishing honeybees has not been put to rest.

In the last few weeks, three separate studies explored the effect of insecticides on honeybee and pollinator health. One paper linked neonicotinoids, a new class of systemic insecticides that have come into widespread use in recent years, to impaired honeybee navigation; a second noted the effects of low levels of the pesticides on bumblebee reproduction.

The most talked about study, from a Harvard team, found that the colonies fed neonicotinoid-laced corn syrup collapsed in a manner that appeared to mimic the effects of Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD—the mysterious phenomenon in which otherwise-healthy bees simply vanish from their hives. Neonicotinoids, declared the Harvard team, were “the likely culprit in sharp worldwide declines in honeybee colonies since 2006.”

Dramatic headlines soon followed: “Mystery of the Disappearing Bees: Solved!” announced a Reuters headline. Ah, if only that were true. Even if neonicotinoids were banned tomorrow, honeybees would still be in big trouble.

The recent studies add to mounting evidence that low levels of neonicotinoids may have “sub-lethal” outcomes—long-term effects on pollinators that haven’t been measured in chemical-company testing submitted for EPA approval. What those papers don’t prove, unfortunately, is that “neonics,” as they are called, cause CCD—or explain the troubling colony losses we’ve seen in recent years.

http://boingboing.net/2012/05/07/the-honeybees-are-still-dying.html

[Mnemosyne]

1. Thanks DB. K&R

[Gregorian]

2. Acres and acres of vineyards are being sprayed by machines this week.

I was there. My parents have a vineyard. We talked about bees. They have stopped using the chemical that is the latest discovery in the death of bees.

Look, this many people all trying to force feed the land to produce in a way that makes it easier to supply everyone just isn't going to work.

It's time to start discussing the real problem. Population.

[DainBramaged]

3. Back in 2005, I lived where people treated their lawns like trophies

They were mowed and fertilized and pescitcided till they were perfect gardens and lawns like you see in the movies. But something was wrong. The bees and wasps and hornets were all gone. The bumblebees who had lived in the rafters for years died out in 2006. I noticed, I even wrote about it on the old DU. And I blamed it then on the new Bayer pesticides, the new class everyone was so excited about. How they were safer and more effective.


Maybe it's time to ban all of this class of pesticides, before we kill all of the bees, like we almost lost the eagles to DDT.


Thanks for reading.

[Gregorian]

4. It's multifaceted.

If we start looking at all of the things affected by overpopulation, we see things that most people don't even consider, like roads. All of the paved over land that keeps primarily animals, but also some insects from being able to range without being killed. But there is also the loss of diversity from cutting down forests, and using land for monocultures. As I went through the area of northern California this week, I realized that the vineyards used to be redwoods and forest. They are essentially clearcuts with grapes.

It is not this simple, but there really is one solution. Lower the population. Because with less people comes less corporations, carbon emissions, nitrates into the waters, and everything else. And good fucking luck with that. People today are either unconscious, or they don't have anything to compare what was with what is. So they just don't know.

I don't care what people think of me anymore. Call it doom and gloom if you want. The truth, the problem, still exists. And your kids are going to be paying for it and living with it.

[DainBramaged]

5. It didn't START until the new pesticides were released

And NO ONE wants to point fingers because of the incredible lobbies these industrial fucks have.

[progressoid]

6. Fucking magnets.

Kidding of course.

k/r

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. k&r