To Fight Bee Decline, Obama Proposes More Land to Feed Bees

[IDemo]

Source: ABC News

WASHINGTON — May 19, 2015, 1:29 PM ET
By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer

The Obama administration hopes to save the bees by feeding them better.

A new federal plan aims to reverse America's declining honeybee and monarch butterfly populations by making millions of acres of federal land more bee-friendly, spending millions of dollars more on research and considering the use of fewer pesticides.

While putting different type of landscapes along highways, federal housing projects and elsewhere may not sound like much in terms of action, several bee scientists told The Associated Press that this a huge move. They say it may help pollinators that are starving because so much of the American landscape has been converted to lawns and corn that don't provide foraging areas for bees.

"This is the first time I've seen addressed the issue that there's nothing for pollinators to eat," said University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum, who buttonholed President Barack Obama about bees when she received her National Medal of Science award last November. "I think it's brilliant."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/feds-propose-multi-pronged-plan-bolster-decline-bees-31140603

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Looks like it's time to define honeybees as useless eaters and welfare queens now...

[tech3149]

1. Can you say "You Just Don't Get It"

I was never real big on studying biology but I am sort of a science geek.
I put my efforts into a trade that was more mechanistic. Electronics is a weird and wonderful endeavor. I loved my work every day until I had to quit for my own sanity.
My most valuable skill was as a diagnostician. My education was mediocre at best but I learned by doing the job without support from the people designing the stuff I was working on.
Those who are trying to find a solution to the bee problem need to operate with unrelated studies that could provide an intelligent response.
As the Bioneers sat "We Are All Connected"

[geomon666]

2. Give them Pat Robertson's house

Plenty of room there.

[jwirr]

3. I am glad to hear this. Two years ago in NE MN our bees all died during the winter. And later we

found that most of the bees up here died. I think there is still a lot of spraying done in the forest but there is a lot for them to eat. We have the hives set up again but so far we have not bought the bees. When I lived in Iowa lose of habitat for a lot of animals was becoming a problem. Farmers were growing crops right up to the road instead of leaving the roadside for them.

[jtuck004]

4. Might want to consider putting up a bunch of warehouses as well...

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Yakima beekeepers may have stumbled onto a breakthrough in honey bee survival.

Bee keepers Eric and Sue Olsen were stunned after the die-off of their hives over last winter. It was the worst they'd ever seen, they said. The bees wintered in central California's almond-growing region and spent the warm days busily foraging in the fields.

It seemed like a stress-free environment for the bees, but when Eric Olsen opened the hives in the spring, he saw the devastation. Tens of thousands of bees, gone.

Desperate, the couple did some research and learned growers in Idaho and other parts of the country had success by wintering their bees indoors.
...

Honey bee survival experiment in Yakima stirs up research
http://www.king5.com/story/tech/science/environment/2014/08/02/13057312/

[cstanleytech]

5. *scratches head* Wouldnt limiting if not our right banning certain pesticides help them more??

[Hoppy]

7. What are you, some kinda fuckin' commie?

Free enterprise made Round-up!




















Yes, Adelaide, don't get your shorts twisted. Its sarcasm.

[historylovr]

12. Agreed.

It's a good first step to allot more land, but banning certain pesticides would actually help even more.

[zeemike]

13. That kind of solution is off the table.

Profits of Monsanto must be protected.

[historylovr]

15. I know.

[jtuck004]

20. Then we die. n/t

[slumcamper]

14. ...Monsanto laughs out loud at this deceptive smokescreen.

This feelgood proclamation is pizzing in the wind. The time for such baby steps has long since passed.

How about an executive order directing the EPA to impose a moratorium--at the very least--on Roundup?

Monsanto's laugh will become a scream--and then we'll finally have the long-overdue public debate about this purveyor of poison.

[jakeXT]

16. Hey....they are saving the bees

http://fox2now.com/2015/05/13/monsanto-working-to-save-honey-bees/

[cstanleytech]

18. Wait, I thought the problem was not Roundup but rather the usage of neonicotinoid pesticides?

[840high]

19. Bingo.

[Arkansas Granny]

6. The Arkansas Highway and Tranportation Department has a wildflower program that includes planting

wildflower seeds in medians and right-of-ways of highways.

"The Natural State" is graced with more than 600 species of wildflowers.
Wildflowers are now being utilized by the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) to help beautify the over 200,000 acres of highway roadsides it maintains. AHTD's Wildflower Program has three parts: a Wildflower Route Program, which preserves existing wildflower populations; Operation Wildflower, which establishes new wildflower populations; and the Wildflower Sign program which strives to increase public awareness of the AHTD Wildflower Program. These programs help reduce long-term maintenance costs, enhance roadside wildlife habitat, provide an attractive roadside environment, and preserve native plant populations.

http://www.arkansashighways.com/wildflower_program/wildflower.aspx

If a program like this was carried out nationally, it could provide a lot of forage for the bees while cutting back on costs of mowing and herbicides. Not only that, it can be quite pretty to look at while driving.

[red dog 1]

9. + 1

Sounds good to me!

[red dog 1]

8. Now THIS is the Barack Obama that I voted for twice.

I especially like the part about:
"considering the use of fewer pesticides."

However, according to the AP story:
"Environmental activists, who wanted a ban on a much-criticized class of pesticide, said the Obama administration's bee strategy falls way short of what's needed to save the hives."

[Oneironaut]

10. This is why we need Democrats in office.

Republicans would mock anyone concerned as "Pinko environmentalist hippies" and laugh as the bee populations continued to dwindle. They're literally proud of destroying the planet.

[duhneece]

11. As we reduce the number of cattle grazing on public lands

perhaps the ranchers could become beekeepers! Win, win, win!!

[Enrique]

17. Obama has always been soft on the bee menace

at 0:06 you can hear Lindsey Graham crying out, "they sting and they're scary!"

[Botany]

21. Know it, learn it, and love it

[Javaman]

22. As a bee keeper, this. will. do. nothing.

get rid of round up, get rid of the neonicotinoids.

[IDemo]

23. Has Bayer become the Tobacco Institute on this?

Pay no attention to all those lung cancer patients, we have a product to sell. What will it take to get the shit pulled from the marketplace?

I heard that Lowes is going to stop selling neonicotinoid-based insecticides, but that leaves a lot of available outlets for those who don't know or care about the issue.

[IDemo]

24. 'The Bees Can't Wait': White House Plan to Save Pollinators Falls Short, Say Experts

Pollinator Health Strategy fails to address pesticides as key driver of bee deaths

Faced with the growing crisis of declining bee populations, the White House on Tuesday released its strategy for improving pollinator health. Almost immediately, experts decried the plan, saying it "misses the mark" by refusing to acknowledge the overwhelming role that pesticides play in driving bee deaths.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/05/19/bees-cant-wait-white-house-plan-save-pollinators-falls-short-say-experts