Effects of Colony Collapse Disorder Now Manifesting in California. Sacramento California is now witnessing first hand, the daunting implications of colony collapse disorder.
It is estimated that California produces about 80 percent of the world’s almonds. There are 6,000 almond orchards in that region and many of the farmers are finding that there simply aren’t enough bees to pollinate their crop. A fourth generation beekeeper lost 70% of his hives while another lost 100%. The negative effects of the honeybee shortage were predicted last year so measures were taken to try and offset this dangerous scenario. 11,000 hives were brought to California from all over the country; of these 11,000 hives, hundreds were found dead upon arrival. There are an abundance of theorized causes of colony collapse disorder, from disease, to mites, to pesticides.
Decline of bees forces China's apple farmers to pollinate by hand. In the last 50 years, the global human population has nearly doubled, while the average calories consumed per person has increased by about 30%.
To cope with the ever growing demand for food, more land has been brought into agricultural production, mainly by clearing forests, and farming has become much more intensive. Fertilisers, pesticides, and development of new plant varieties have allowed farmers to increase the average yield of food per hectare to increase by 130% in the same period. It is obvious that this pattern cannot go on for ever; we will run out of forests to clear, and we cannot squeeze ever more food from the same area of land.
There are cracks beginning to show; highly intensive farming may not be sustainable in the long term. Globally, about 75 billion tons of soil is lost every year, washed away or blown out to sea after ploughing. Modern farming threatens to eradicate these organism, and so undermine itself. The Bees Are Dying and How Monsanto Will Be Responsible for the Upcoming Famine. "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.
No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man. " -- Albert Einstein. The Great Honeybee Conspiracy. Health Wire Posted by Jimmy Mengel - Thursday, December 16th, 2010 The humble honey bee is getting its fair share of buzz this year — which doesn't bode particularly well for the species, or American agriculture as a whole.
The most recent revelations involve leaked government documents, regulatory malfeasance, and scientific censorship. To mix an insect metaphor, it's quite a tangled web... The Bee Cause : Current Campaigns : What We Do. 5 ways to help our disappearing bees. In the spring and summer, thoughts naturally turn to the birds and the bees.
Except, the bee seems to be in trouble. You've probably heard about colony collapse disorder (CCD) or vanishing bee syndrome, the mysterious and rather dramatic die-off of domesticated honeybees in Europe and North America. Scientists aren't really sure what's going on yet. All that's known for sure is our bee colonies are suddenly disappearing. Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Importance of BEES Colony collapse - Educate YourselfEducate Yourself. Updated May 7, 2013, 6:22 p.m.
ETBee Deaths Put Crops at RiskMounting Toll on Pollinating Insects Imperils Over $20 Billion a Year in Harvests By BILL TOMSON and RYAN TRACY A USDA study released Tuesday reports that 31% of bee colonies died this past winter. Here, a honey collection in Homestead, Fla., last month. The winter of 2012-13 was another rough one for honeybees, threatening an industry that is integral to a large part of fruit and vegetable production in the U.S. A study released Tuesday by the U.S. Honeybee virus: Varroa mite. 7 June 2012Last updated at 22:20 By Victoria Gill BBC Nature The BBC's Victoria Gill:"The new study has pinned down exactly which virus is the honeybee killer" A parasitic mite has helped a virus wipe out billions of honeybees throughout the globe, say scientists.
A team studying honeybees in Hawaii found that the Varroa mite helped spread a particularly nasty strain of a disease called deformed wing virus. What Will The Grocery Store Look Like If The Bees Disappear? While the spotted owl and grey wolf may be the poster children for the environment, the honeybee has been nudging its way in as the new darling.
And with good reason; honeybee populations are dwindling at an alarming rate, and nobody knows exactly why. The total number of managed honeybee colonies has gone from 5 million in the 1940s to only 2.5 million today. Winter 2012/2013 saw total losses of managed honeybee colonies at 31.1 percent, a figure higher than average for the last six years. The Xerces Society » Bees. Bees are undoubtedly the most abundant pollinators of flowering plants in our environment.
The service that bees and other pollinators provide allows nearly 70 percent of all flowering plants to reproduce; the fruits and seeds from insect pollinated plants account for over 30 percent of the foods and beverages that we consume. Beyond agriculture, pollinators are keystone species in most terrestrial ecosystems. Fruits and seeds derived from insect pollination are a major part of the diet of approximately 25 percent of all birds, and of mammals ranging from red-backed voles to grizzly bears. The silence of the bees: government refuses to act on pesticide evidence. Here's an illustrative tale of how science is used and abused in government policy making.
In some circumstances, as with the imminent badger cull, you can take scientific evidence and extrapolate it to breaking point in order to justify the decision you have already taken. What's Happening to Honey Bees? Vanishing Of The Bees. Bee decline: Government announces 'urgent' review. 27 June 2013Last updated at 21:17 ET The review is expected to look at the evidence on what is happening to bees and other pollinators The government has announced it will carry out an "urgent and comprehensive" review of the decline of bees. Minister Lord de Mauley told a bee summit, organised by Friends of the Earth, that the review will lead to a "national pollinator strategy". 37 Million Bees Found Dead In Ontario. It was just a few weeks ago that 50,000 bees were found dead in an Oregon parking lot, and now the ongoing problem has hit north of the border in Ontario, Canada where more than 37 million bees have been found dead.
In the past, many scientists have struggled to find the exact cause of the massive die-offs, a phenomenon they refer to as "colony collapse disorder" (CCD). In the United States, for seven consecutive years, honeybees are in terminal decline.The problem has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables. It is estimated that a third of everything we eat depends upon honeybee pollination, which means that bees contribute over 30 billion to the global economy. Vanishing of the Bees. By Dr.
Mercola Honey bees are the angels of agriculture, but they're disappearing at a startling rate in a mysterious phenomenon dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Since 2007, North American honey bees are literally disappearing without a trace. Leaked memo shows Bayer product killing bee colonies. Leaked EPA Document Says Bayer's Clothianidin Kills Honey Bees. Honey Bee Die-Off. A federal study attributes the massive die-off in American honey bee colonies to a combination of factors, including pesticides, poor diet, parasites and a lack of genetic diversity. Nearly a third of honey bee colonies in the United States have been wiped out since 2006. The estimated value of crops lost if bees were no longer able to pollinate fruits and vegetables is around $15 billion. The report comes on the heels of an announcement Monday by the European Union that they are banning the use of pesticides that may be harmful to bees for two years. The measure is being closely watched here because the insecticides, known as neonicotinoids, have been in wide use for the past decade.
Many studies, including the study released today by the USDA, have made a link between the insecticides — which are used to ward off pests such as aphids and beetles — and honeybee deaths. More evidence links pesticides to honeybee losses. Photo by Rebecca Reardon. It’s been three weeks since beekeepers filed a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remove clothianidin — the pesticide widely suspected to be wreaking havoc on honeybee populations — from the market. What is Really Killing the Bees? Scientists discover what’s killing the bees. Universal Basic Income (UBI) proposals are gaining in popularity across the political spectrum. The measures would see governments hand a set monthly income to every single citizen within a country, either in addition to existing benefits or in place of them (depending on the details of the particular UBI proposal). Left-wing fans favor UBI’s ability to eradicate absolute poverty, while right-wing libertarians are drawn to its simplicity and reduction in bureaucracy.
In Silicon Valley, startup investment firm Y Combinator has plans to fund a basic income experiment in the US, while Finland announced last year it would conduct its own extensive experiment. But how feasible is UBI to implement in reality? What a scientist didn't tell the NY Times on honeybee deaths - Oct. 8, 2010. Jerry Bromenshenk, bee investigatorBy Katherine Eban, contributorOctober 8, 2010: 1:42 PM ET. EPA Document Shows It Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees. The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and farmers who know how critical bee pollination is for many crops.
A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined--electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists. Leaked document shows EPA allowed bee-toxic pesticide despite own scientists’ red flags. US approves new pesticides linked to mass bee deaths as EU enacts ban. The continuing mass death of honeybees, known scientifically as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and a pollinator crisis, could well strain production of over 100 crops in the US including apples, zucchinis, avocados and plums. Insanity: US Approves Bee Death Pesticide as EU Bans It. Corporate politics is business as usual inside the United States, as I am once again shocked to report the EPA has sided with industry lobbyists over public health in approving a highly dangerous pesticide that the European Union recently decided to ban over fears of environmental devastation.
Monsanto Buys Leading Bee Research Firm. Anthony Gucciardi Infowars.com Thursday, April 19, 2012. Monsanto buys leading bee research firm after being implicated in bee colony collapse. Vanishing of the Bees. Researchers find alarming decline in bumblebees. Why bees are disappearing: Marla Spivak at TEDGlobal 2013. Vanishing Of The Bees. Vanishing of the Bees 2009. Vanishing Of The Bees.