Threat to bees !

[Belle]

It's more than just the pesticides.

It's treating the bees with dignity and respect and honouring their ways.

Is it true that bee hives are put in the back of trucks, following the crops around, in order that they keep working keep working rather than hibernate and take their natural rest?

What are we doing? True or not, we exploit left right and centre.

Desperate days.

[Tobi]

Yes that is so stressful for the bees I think. It's time we stopped exploiting our close relatives in Nature in order to "make a living" as it's called.
I know....what would we do for almonds and almond milk if those bees didn't pollenate the almond orchards......?
I think part of the problem is human over-population, and part of it is our misunderstanding of how creatures operate, and what they need. Yes, it comes down to disrespect and a certain amount of ignorance.

[Belle]

Stressful - yes and also like us they need a rest. They need their zzzzzzzz.

And I agree, ignorance and misunderstandings are rife.

I got hammered by stating the earth is overpopulated recently. But that is for another thread?

[Belle]

http://news.sky.com/story/1106549/de...00-in-car-park

Devastating story. I'm not sure how they counted them but essentially a lot of bees.

I've always had an affinity with bees - and this breaks my heart.

[Uma]

Don't just feel sorry for the bees....worry about our food supply and the existence of all of life! Bees are crucial to pollination - and monoculture is destroying that. Watch the documentary Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? (currently on Netflicks)

Activist Vandana Shiva also brings up the issue of genetic manipulation and patenting of seeds and how that totally messes up our environment, including bee behaviour, as well as creating social injustices of every variety! LINK

Bees = Existence on Earth!

[Belle]

Originally Posted by Uma

Don't just feel sorry for the bees....worry about our food supply and the existence of all of life! Bees are crucial to pollination - and monoculture is destroying that. Watch the documentary Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? (currently on Netflicks)

Activist Vandana Shiva also brings up the issue of genetic manipulation and patenting of seeds and how that totally messes up our environment, including bee behaviour, as well as creating social injustices of every variety! LINK

Bees = Existence on Earth!

uma you are right, we need to worry beyond the bees, there are lots of animals and plant life that are being threatened - which has an impact on the whole eco-system.

Norseman - I read about the EU victory over nicitoid chemicals grats!

Belle - There is a GREAT series on PBS which the name has escaped my memory. IT showed how farms in america work. The bees are constantly trucked around the country pollinating all fruit crops and food crops across the states and some of southern canada. Many reports suggest this is one of the main factors in CDD. IT exposes bees to pathogens all around the country.

Uma - It is easy to see that, and think that. There is one problem with that thought: Honeybees are not native to the US. We have many many other pollinators, such as mason bees that are actually better pollinators. They are able to go out in rain, and cool weather and pollinate, and are active when plums, pears and apples are flowering.

True, it is a shot to our food system since we created it to only be used by bees being trucked around to ensure pollination. There are other pollinators, and the CCD is only a ajor problem in european honeybees.

Now take the above, and add habitat loss to the mix. Farms mean less habitat for all life, since everything is killed on a farm except the plants wanted and bees brought in for pollination. IF the environment cannot support certain animals, then they simply die off or move.

The most recent study showd a "Slurry" of chemicals on honeybees around the US, namely fungicides. The fungicide itself stresses the bee out, which makes it vulnerable to parasites (another problem)