Vanishing bees threaten US crops

[jujuman13]

Put politics aside for a few moments, this article is more important than politics.
It will affect what food you are able to obtain, the cost and availability of that food.
Link
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Vanishing bees threaten US crops
But on the other hand, I suppose Dems will blame Republicans and vice versa, instead of discovering the cause and correcting the problem.

 

[ashurbanipal]

No one knows what is causing CCD, though there are some theories. I would point out that had anyone been paying attention to the alternative news, they'd have known about this three or four weeks ago...

As for who is to blame--most theories point to climate change in one form or another being the primary cause. Therefore, we have ourselves to blame. Anyone who has, over the past fifty years, spoken against getting off of hydrocarbon energy is to blame. Furthermore, it seems like there's very little we're going to be able to do about this for the time being. People are probably going to die en masse fairly soon thanks to this. It will all depend on what happens with beekeepers in the North. Most haven't opened their supers yet, so we won't know whether this is confined to the South or has spread all over. I am hoping it hasn't.

That said, people in North America will be fine. We'll ship the famines that should be ours to Africa and Asia. You may pay a few dollars for an apple and eight or ten for a pepper (or prices may not be affected at all if enough people starve), but this is where the money is and this is where the food will come.

 

[talloulou]

As for who is to blame--most theories point to climate change in one form or another being the primary cause.

I have read no less than 5 articles on this and most theories do not point to climate change! Most theories point to either a pesticide or a virus and a very similar thing happened in the 1960's and remains unexplained to this day. :doh

 

[ashurbanipal]

I have read no less than 5 articles on this and most theories do not point to climate change! Most theories point to either a pesticide or a virus and a very similar thing happened in the 1960's and remains unexplained to this day.

The theories are:

Virus
Tracheal Mites
Varroa Mites
Pesticides
Confused climate signals
Climate change causing an overgrowth of poisonous-to-bees plants

Of those, only Pesticide use (probably a new nicotine based pesticide if this is the cause) has nothing to do with climate, though it certainly has to do with us destroying our environment.

The others are all related, directly or indirectly, to climate change, and may in fact all play a role. The working theory now is that climate change has put bee collonies under stress, weakening their resistance to viruses and mites. The specific symptoms often involve finding supers completely empty, as if the bees all flew away and never returned. It is thought they flew out in search of pollen and, not finding any, expired in the fields. Of course, this may turn out to be wrong.

This has happened a few times throughout history, though never on this scale before. Of course, since you've read no fewer than five articles on the subject, you know all this already.

 

[BubbaBob]

As for who is to blame--most theories point to climate change in one form or another being the primary cause. Therefore, we have ourselves to blame. Anyone who has, over the past fifty years, spoken against getting off of hydrocarbon energy is to blame.

Horseshit.

Since I am a beekeeper, and have been for a LONG time, I'd say that, at least for this board's purpose, I am the resident expert...and there is NO connection that has been shown between CCD and climate. Anyone claiming otherwise is a bald faced liar.

Find another venue to bash Bush...this one won't fly, and if you think otherwise you are an idiot.

BubbaBob

 

[ashurbanipal]

Horseshit.

Hardly.

Since I am a beekeeper, and have been for a LONG time, I'd say that, at least for this board's purpose, I am the resident expert

That doesn't follow.

..and there is NO connection that has been shown between CCD and climate.

I didn't say that. I said that all the major theories indicate a cause, directly or indirectly, by climate change.

Anyone claiming otherwise is a bald faced liar.

You don't know that, and neither do I. Suppose I were the head of the Princeton team working on this, and I just happen to have discovered conclusive proof that climate change is the culprit. I would hardly be a bald-faced liar, would I? But anyway, I'm not claiming that. I've admitted that we don't know for sure what causes this. However, the theories that still fit the evidence all come from CC except one.

Find another venue to bash Bush...this one won't fly, and if you think otherwise you are an idiot.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the other leading theory, that Bush and the Neocons are using microwave radiation carrying islamofascist messages beamed from secret Star Wars satellites to kill off our honey bees. C'mon man! Where did I say anything about Bush? Politicians, industry leaders, and average citizens on all points along the political spectrum have contributed to climate change.