(no subject)

[zanzjan]

Okay, thinning antarctic ice sheets is disturbing enough news, but did you hear that all the bees are disappearing?

This completely freaks me out:
David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing.

In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable.

“I have never seen anything like it,” Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.”

Comments

[garunya.livejournal.com]

So long, and thanks for all the pollen?

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

This is not new news, nor is it as simple as it looks. There's been an ongoing alarm about honeybees for years now. Honeybees are having trouble, and it's beyond the explainable effects of the epidemics that we know about. However, pollination is less affected than it looks like it ought to be, apparently because native bees (mostly solitary bees) have been taking up some of the slack.

It figures the New York Times would get wind of it several years into the crisis (do you remember when almonds went to $17/pound? That was the honeybee crisis, and it was a few years ago).

I'd link to the Science News" articles on this, or better yet copy-paste the quotes, but I can't find a copy of the print magazine around the house so I can't register right now. Stupid. (me, or them, for having a closed system, I'm not sure)

But I think they're right about overwork and stress being factors in the problem, and they should just leave their bees alone for a year.

[zanzjan.livejournal.com]

I keep up with news pretty well, particularly environmental stuff, but the first I'd heard of this was on NPR this morning. I mean, we've even screwed up bees -- how horrible is that?

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that the bees are good examples of the environmental crisis. (I'm also not sure they're not, and I absolutely don't question the environmental crisis) Like I said, native bees are not doing as badly as I at least would have expected considering the honeybee crisis and the sort of general impression I get that honeybees are more robust than native bees. And there's the mystery element to the honeybee situation, and the suggestion that they might be suffering from overwork and lack of downtime.

It's really, really horrible, I don't deny it. I'm expecting to hear more about native bees, though.

[istemi.livejournal.com]

Holy sweet jesus! The bees are being Raptured!

[zanzjan.livejournal.com]

Left Bzzzzhind?

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

How bizarre!

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

I had heard that. It's disturbing. One of my coworkers wants to try to do his part by becoming a beekeeper, which I find admirable.

[zanzjan.livejournal.com]

I've often considered keeping bees, but when they sting me I swell up all funny, so probably not a good idea...