WHAT'S KILLING THE BEES?
“What’s killing the bees?”
Good question and one that’s partly addressed in an article written
by Kim Flottum, an expert on bees, who submits material to CNN.
Though the evidence thus far
collected is not as definitive as that with respect to ‘Headline’
and frogs, ag. chemicals certainly seem to be to blame.
Quotin’ directly from this
article:
“Today, much if not most of that
dietary reserve has been plowed under to make way for 100 million
acres of ethanol-producing corn. This sterile desert has nothing to
offer – except perhaps a tiny bit of the thousands of tons of
agricultural pesticide applied to the corn, way back at planting
time, that makes its way to the pollen collected by the bees, which
is stored and eaten later. That’s not enough to kill a bee, but it
adds another layer of stress. And, some suspect, the tipping point
stress."
From my own experiences, me bein’
one who spends much time just standin’ and quietly observing nature
here in this eco reserve, I’ve noticed a marked decline in honey
bee activity. And especially around some of their most favored
flowers during prime activity time durin’ the day.
Spiderwort is a particularly favored
flower which opens afresh in the morning hours and then more er less
closes up later in the day.
For a number of years we had
chemical ag. much closer to our spiderwort clusters than we have
today. I remember myself questioning, what’s happened ta the bees?
Now that land that once grew corn and is controlled by us, has been
converted to prairie. And, guess what? The bees, in force, are back.
CHEM. AG GETS BAD RAP ON BUTTERFLIES TOO!
Ok. Butterflies: “Where have all
the monarch butterflies gone?” Mother Nature News work.
These butterflies suffered a 59%
decline at their overwintering location in Mexico, where records have
been kept for the past 20 years. I think you all would have ta agree
that’s a significant loss.
Quote from Mother Nature Network:
“As with honeybees, experts point
to American farmland, which is increasingly planted with genetically
modified soybean and corn engineered to withstand herbicide
applications. These herbicides are wiping out milkweeds, on which
monarch larvae feed, in critical feeding grounds in the American
Midwest.”
Surprise! Again we have the combo of
genetically modified corn and soybeans with new age herbicides and
pesticides, winning the war against the environment. Whew!
“Com’on, Dave. Why don’t you
tell about the unmarked aircraft,” several in this loose assemblage
cry out.
“Not yet. Not yet. I ain’t done
researching that one yet.”
The disappointment was what you’d
call, palpable, I guess.
HEY! DINA IS BACK!
The dogs erupt again, announcin’
arrival of someone else’s vehicle. Unless there’s the beep of a
horn, or a plea fer assistance, I don’t jump up ta see who’s
here. This person, too, seems to be working their way past them
barkin’ three, so I figure all is ok. I don’t know who it was
that first recognized this late entrant, but a general cry that ‘Dina
was back!’ just sorta erupted.
Seemingly all talkin’ as one, of
course we wanted the low down on her investigation inta organic
farmin’ in Peru. Took nearly an hour of some new introductions and
general jabber before discussion with respect ta our general
objectives was seriously restored.
“Dina. We’ve been gettin’ all
sorts of reply ta our Eco Vig efforts. We’ve just received this
manila 9x12 envelope from this Jane Heim, connected with “Spray
Drift”: It’s just packed with good info. This is where I first
started gettin’ tips on what’s up with unmarked or incorrectly
registered spray planes. I can’t thank her enough fer a lot of this
stuff, which havin’ her permission, I intended ta use.
ANGER AND FRUSTRATION WITH WARREN GOETSCH
Seems she’s not satisfied one bit
by way this Warren Goetsch character, who’s the bureau chief fer
environmental matters at Il. Dept. of Ag., has been handling numerous
complaints from organic farmers and bee keepers, or maybe we should
say not handlin’ ‘em.
Quotin’ directly from some of her
literature.
“Why is it that you can get back
to the victim within four weeks when you find “no violation,” but
you keep some organic farmers waiting for an answer for…well…some
are still waiting for an answer three months later and counting?
Don’t you think that’s a little unfair?
And when these nice, dedicated
small farmers and small landowners call you, you give them the
following excuses”:
“We lost a chemist.”
“Our machine is broken down.”
“The instrument that is used to
analyze the samples was down and just got repaired.”
“I will get back to you…I am so
busy now with complaints…”
“It will be another week or so.”
“I see no dead bees around your
hives.”
“You need a quart jar of dead bees
to prove it.”
She goes on to chastise him,
further, harder, and makes accusation of him workin’ for State of
Il. Dept. of big biz agriculture, somethin’ the vast majority of
those I converse with don’t have a problem believin’, at all.
“Dina!” I blurt out. In depth
investigation’s yer bag, ain’t it?”
“Well, yeah, I guess I could claim
that,” I get as response.
Let me give ya some background on
this Dina chick:
She was born in Russia like four
years before Chernobyl, the nuclear reactor meltdown.
Her family, grandparents, her
parents and her, were granted permission to flee the country, all
landing in the U.S.
An environmental refuge, I guess
that’s what you’d call her. It’s like she’s got K.G.B. in her
genes, ya know what I mean. She just loves ta dig inta things.
DINA SET LOOSE!
“Dina, how’da like the job of
scopin’ out this Goetsch character, tryin’ ta find out what makes
him tick?”
“Do you mean me going to
Springfield? Me checking him out close up. Seeing how and where he
eats, where he hangs out and with whom, the whole nine yards?”
“Yeah. We might even send ya off
with press credentials. Lead investigator fer the eco Vig.”
“Eh. Expenses?”
“Minimal, yeah. We all know that
you know how ta live close ta the ground.”
“All right, give me a couple of
days to rest up. party…and I’ll go off and see what I can come up
with.”
Fast forward, like only a couple of
weeks and we’re again gathered out here in the woods, hard spring
comin’ on.
“Darn!” Kendra comes on, “Can
you believe all the press the bee die off is getting. It’s all over
the Internet. Bees, bees, like some sorta switch’s been turned on.”
“Yeah,” I come back. “From the
number of articles Ruby May fished up with her computer, stuff that
we’ve been sent by others…and did you see that it even hit prime
time network news. Yeah…and they did a pretty good job of it too.
They hit on ag. chemicals as a major probable cause, them stoppin’
just short of pinnin’ the tails on the asses.
HONEY TAINTED WITH AG. CHEMICAL!
In honey, tested in laboratories
with the highest degree of suffocation, they’ve isolated like 150
(and countin’) ag. chemical agents.
Since the bees have to eat their
honey to survive the winter, the bees don’t seem able to metabolize
all that previously unencountered junk.
This also begs the question of what
these traces of chemical agents do to us, when er if there is a
tolerance level that us humans can’t handle. “Not to worry,”
again we hear from chemical ag.
The hive collapse that is unfoldin’
all around us we’d best take seriously. Much agro business could
collapse along with the bees. This is serious stuff, that’s why
it’s capturing so much attention. If the bee disaster cannot be
stopped, say the bees get, along with a whole mess of their cohorts,
kicked into the cyclone swirl around the extinction bin, guess what!
We won’t be all that far behind ‘em. Leading scientific thought
has us, following ‘em by from four to ten years. Think about it….
“Yes! We definitely need bees!”