The Bees Die…The Planet Dies

[zonmoy]

The planet is the common good of humanity. Taking care of it gives life a meaning.

It is necessary to make the farmers understand what their responsibility is, but they seldom have Internet. The bees are the second factor of life on our planet. There is nothing left but our awareness which can act on the totalitarian power of money. It is necessary to react, to transmit this important message to all and to find solutions because it is as serious as the war of Iraq. This poisining is a planetary genocide.

The scandals that are appearing everywhere are nothing compared to the untold catastrophes which are being prepared because of the criminal unawareness of some world lobbies specialized in the massive poisoning of nature. The extermination of the bees by products officially declared as being non toxic is another example of this lack of responsibility.

I am speaking about the extermination of the bees - on which depends 80 % of the pollination of cultivated plants - by Imidaclopride which Bayer sells under the name of Gaucho to the farmers to coat seeds and to protect them from certain diseases…

http://rinf.com/alt-news/environmental-news/the-bees-diethe-planet-dies/111/

[ogsbee]

1. I've been wondering what's going to happen to wild plants

Here in NY there are maybe a tenth of the dandelions that there usually are, annuals will just disappear. It's eerie. The problem goes way beyond cultivated plants to whole ecosystems.

[Taverner]

2. Oh don't worry - God will build us a new place

He said so, right? At least that's what my Mega-preacher told me and he wouldn't lie :sarcasm:

[pscot]

3. He already has

It's called Hell.

[GliderGuider]

4. And it's right here on earth...

No wait, we built that one...

[mike_c]

5. not true at all, not even close....

Look, I'm as appalled as you about threats to biodiversity, declining bee populations, and so on, but hysterical nonsense won't solve anything and probably does more harm than good.

First, the assertion that "80% of the pollination of cultivated plants" depends on bees is only credible if you include all of the non-food flowering plants grown as ornamentals. Only 30% of agricultural production depends on insect pollination. That isn't insignificant, but honey bees still account for only a subset of that amount-- albeit the largest subset by far-- and most staple foods are actually wind pollinated, not insect pollinated at all. There are also numerous native pollinators that can be adapted to do at least part of that pollination-- just not to the tune of 100K+ bees per hive and with a honey industry to boot.

Second, imidacloprid has not been demonstrated to be responsible for CCD. Personally, I suspect that imidacloprid might be a contributing factor, but I think that CCD is a syndrome rather than a single discrete condition and that it has multiple causes and multiple progressions that all terminate incidentally in bee mortality. But that is no more supported by the actual data at this point than the imidacloprid connection.

[Zodiak]

12. I endorse mike_c's post

He knows his stuff

[Buzz Clik]

6. sigh.

First, the number of farmers with Internet access is identical to the overall average, and farmers understand their responsibility to this earth far better than the average homeowner.

The death of bees that has been widely reported is generally by those who transport their bees from place to place to pollinate cash crops. If these bee keepers go out of business because their single species of pollinators has been devastated by some insult, then other pollinators will take their place. Perhaps the rate of pollination will not be to the liking of almond growers, but we are not on the verge of food collapse simply the commercial bee pollination business has suffered the same fate that all monocultures eventually experience.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. All I know is the bees are not in my garden this year, and few

last year.
Honey type bees, that is. We used to see them all the time.

Mason bees aplenty, as always.

[pscot]

10. I've been wondering about the mason bees

I'm going to make a couple of nest logs for them.

[Shoelace]

24. not in my garden either but for one single Bumble bee

but it's been unusually cold here in Oregon so far this season. The Bumble Bee is so beautiful and she (?) buzzed around me alot of times as I worked in the garden yesterday. I'm trying to keep several areas undisturbed for her as suggested by the experts.
Am hoping we get some bees this year, there were about a dozen last year and no squash pollinated, few tomatoes too. Oh and the rasberries didn't do much either. We use no chemicals on our gardens.

[pecwae]

8. I delighted to say

that I've had honeybees working my plantings in our suburban area for two years. I've seen more in these two years than in the previous decade. I don't know what their range is, but I'm guessing the hive can't be too far.

I don't know how much help this is, but I've put a Mason bee home in the backyard. So far, there are 8 liners being worked.

[FirstLight]

9. ...okay, what is the difference between a honey bee and a mason bee?

Just so I know...

[pecwae]

11. A really simple explanation

would be that honey bees are highly social, hive dwelling and honey and wax producing. Mason bees are solitary, build individual nests, have no worker bees. Both are great pollinators, though.

Here's where I get the Mason bees & supplies:

www.knoxcellars.com

[eppur_se_muova]

15. Thanks, that was really interesting!

Too bad they're out of Mason bees until November. :(

[rosesaylavee]

14. Honey bees are prettier.

:)

And they make honey you can eat or sell.

[rosesaylavee]

13. Saw my bees yesterday.

So far, so good. I am down to just one hive this year... but they were pretty busy doing their thing.

There are things each of us can do. We can stop using poison on our lawns, we can allow the clover to live in our grass or overseed areas with clover or other flowering cover crops. Let areas of your property go a bit wild so that the pollinators have a place to live too.

[mike_c]

18. excellent advice....

Pollinators need to forage all summer long, not just when people need their almonds pollinated!

[Zachstar]

20. Or grow a food garden with plenty of flowering crops.

I grew different types of plants a few years ago in the garden. Every morning I would go out to see the bees all around the flowers. It was quite an amazing sight!

The land here is a bit messed up but I intend to try for a crop next year.

[bunny planet]

16. I just tried to sign up for a beekeeping course in my area and it is filled up

with hundreds of names on the waiting list. I've heard its the same in several states when these course are offered. Some people are figuring out that its a good skill to learn I guess.

[rosesaylavee]

19. I just learned last year.

They are amazing little animals. I love it. Susan Hubbell has a couple excellent books about beekeeping if you are looking to while the time between now and next year when you can start.

[crimsonblue]

17. I bet it's terrorists...

not really.

[Quantess]

21. Here's an informative thread about bee keeping

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x7290

[Festivito]

22. Yesterday I saw two dying bees.

An undersized bumble-bee struggling to go across the lawn.

A large yellow jacket on a rock, heaving, but would not fly as I took the rock out from under him.

I'm not seeing a lot of them.

Hope my sightings mean nothing.

[rosesaylavee]

23. The bumbly bee may have just come out... just baby.

You might have been near a nest in the ground.

Don't know about the yellow jacket. It's too soon for us to see them here in Illinois.