No Bees - No Food?

[Uncle Festivus]

I don't know where this is heading but by all accounts it could be serious.
Bee populations in Europe & America are coming under atack by a mystery illness. As bees are needed to pollinate food crops, it is shaping up to be a big threat to the world economy, and has a lot of people worried.

Colony Collapse Disorder

A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous.

http://www.celsias.com/blog/2007/03/29/european-bees-taking-a-nosedive/

http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/ColonyCollapseDisorderInfo.html#press

Albert Einstein quote: “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.”

 

[sam76]

I don't know where this is heading but by all accounts it could be serious.
Bee populations in Europe & America are coming under atack by a mystery illness. As bees are needed to pollinate food crops, it is shaping up to be a big threat to the world economy, and has a lot of people worried.



http://www.celsias.com/blog/2007/03/29/european-bees-taking-a-nosedive/



http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/ColonyCollapseDisorderInfo.html#press

The whole GM thing has me quite worried.

 

[wayneL]

Maybe that Mormon dude knew something after all (They are instructed to keep a years supply of food)

When you think about it, there are several things on the horizon that good interrupt food supply, all are nightmare scenarios that most do not dare to contemplate.... and probably ridicule those that do.

But a years supply of basic rations in the cellar would seem like pretty cheap insurance to me.... and be long ag futures.

I am long wheat https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=161293&postcount=22 based on adverse conditions in the wheat growing regions of the US (i.e the crop is stoooffed) and have nearly a dollar/bushel in the trade. Imagine what these grains would do if there was a really serious threat to their viability.

 

[2020hindsight]

Thanks Unc,

sounds like we've messed with nature once too often .
(I recall Chop's pointing out the USA had a financial windfall if gm crops were used worldwide - sheesh!)

Note that at the 3 minute mark, they speculate whether "bees imported from Aus to US might be the problem" (?)

http://www.celsias.com/blog/2007/03/29/european-bees-taking-a-nosedive/ - (the website you posted Unc):-
Kaatz would have preferred to continue studying the phenomenon but lacked the necessary funding. “Those who have the money are not interested in this sort of research,” says the professor, “and those who are interested don’t have the money.” - Spiegel

Bees dying in Germany Now

 

[2020hindsight]

As a couple of cynics posted on that celsia website :-

"The next step is to genetically engineer Bees. =)"

"When the crops fail globally, there will still be food. People will simply eat each other."

 

[2020hindsight]

As someone posted there, this Canadian farmer tells a sad story ( David / Goliath battle - ..

David won..(in the courts)
but not in the big picture

It's cost him $200K in court etc

This farmer was exploited by a GM company and dragged into the battle by the poor scientific controls that big $ uses. Less scientific professionalism, more $$. Attempting to earn profits through litigation and not quality products. Pathetic. Back to remedial science class for the big dumb companies.

http://www.percyschmeiser.com/conflict.htm

 

[2020hindsight]

probably montanto spin doctoring, but you never know :-
http://www.synchronizm.com/blog/index.php/2007/03/29/the-bees-who-flew-too-high/

Sunspots?

Sunspots follow an approximate 11-year cycle, corresponding to increases in solar activity. This solar activity causes geomagnetic effects during the peaks, but effects on earth’s magnetic field also occur during the minimums. Using these observations, scientists have predicted that the next solar maximum, expected to peak in 2010, could be the most intense ever.
The measurement that allows the the prediction is called Inter-hour Variability. Combined with another observation on the sun, Physicist David Hathaway noticed a correlation that allowed prediction of solar activity 6-8 years later. In his observations, the last time something similar to the IHV measurements he sees today happened was about 50 years ago.

Watching The Dance

Aside from the fact that most children would use the same crayons to draw both sunspots and honeybees, how could they two be related?
Barbara Shipman, mathematician and daughter of a bee researcher, first noticed something peculiar about the dance bees use to describe where pollen sources are located to other bees. Observed over 40 years by Karl von Firsh, these movements seemed an overly complex way to convey information, especially in insect behavior. No one had yet made sense of the dance the bee scouts performed on returning to a hive, but one thing was clear. All of the dance was based on a triangulation of the hive, the food source, and the sun.

Enough anecdotal evidence and coincidence combined with solid observation also exists to link the disappearance of the bees with changes in the sun, even if the reason why the cameras show correlation in the dance is not clear.

Excuse me while I kiss the sky
- Jimi Hendrix, Purpule Haze

My money's on the GM. At least (like GW) we can act - and if we're right, then great, and if we're wrong, then we've lost nothing. (Monsanto might lose, but they can afford it)

 

[2020hindsight]

100million bees disappear from Taiwan - Hawaii going the same way
"When I saw that mite ( on a bee in Hawaii) I knew exactly what it meant, and I fell to my knees and wept"

Trouble is , he goes on to say
"It ends certified organic honey on the island". !!??
Is he saying it is all about money !!? strange thing to say.

 

[josh_in_a_box]

what about butterflies? dun they do the same thing basiclly?

 

[noirua]

·
Post from a Beekeeper

“Its late, and maybe in the morning I'll delete this post, but I've just got home and for now I need to write this down.
Earlier this evening I received a message from a home owner to say they had a swarm of bees in their hedge, but they were worried about them because children had been throwing water at them.

By the time my fellow beekeeper and I arrived, what had been a beautiful prime swarm was reduced to a few hundred drenched bees, huddling limply around their queen.

I've already deleted the photos of the puddles of water, the dripping wet hedge, and the many, many dead and dying bees that hadn't been able to escape the attack; sharing those pictures serves no purpose.

We gently placed the bees that had survived into a collection box, and hopefully tomorrow, when they've had chance to dry out and settle, we'll check on them and if necessary feed them; they'll be exhausted and possibly (understandably) defensive.

They've been through a lot.
Please, please, help me to educate your children, your grandchildren, your neices and nephews, your neighbours, your colleagues and your friends that a swarm of bees isn't dangerous - they're amazing creatures that are just looking for a new home.
Please don't let anyone harm them.
Just call a beekeeper who will gladly rehome them.
Please help me to spread this message and hopefully save any more bees from being unnecessarily harmed”

Sad and unhappy Beekeeper - Credit Rubery Honey