Honeybee deaths reaching crisis point
- added August 13, 2008
- 67 responses
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- jefftego
- added this
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- related topics
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- News (28714)
- Environment (6346)
- Food (2014)
- Current News US (1864)
- Current News UK (1829)
- Food Crisis (110)
- Bees (79)
- Colony Collapse Disorder (16)
- Honeybee (8)
- CCD (1)
• Pollination of fruit and vegetables at risk
Britain's honeybees have suffered catastrophic losses this year, according to a survey of the nation's beekeepers, contributing to a shortage of honey and putting at risk the pollination of fruits and vegetables.
The survey by the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA) revealed that nearly one in three of the UK's 240,000 honeybee hives did not survive this winter and spring.
The losses are higher than the one in five colonies reported dead earlier this year by the government after 10% of hives had been inspected.
The BBKA president, Tim Lovett, said he was very concerned about the findings: "Average winter bee losses due to poor weather and disease vary from between 5% and 10%, so a 30% loss is deeply worrying. This spells serious trouble for pollination services and honey producers."
The National Bee Unit has attributed high bee mortality to the wet summer in 2007 and in the early part of this spring that confined bees to their hives. This meant they were unable to forage for nectar and pollen and this stress provided the opportunity for pathogens to build up and spread.
In the US, honey yields have been decimated by honeybee loses of 36%, many due to colony collapse disorder (CCD), a mysterious disappearance linked to the blood-sucking varroa mite, lethal viruses, malnutrition, pesticides, and a lack of genetic diversity. CCD has spread to Canada, France, Germany and Italy but has not yet been confirmed by government in the Britain.
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Oh, good. I always hated bees. Keep 'em alive till someone comes up with an artificial pollination method and synthetic honey.
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It's funny seeing that there are still people out there that cannot or refuse to understand the importance of bees. Whether you hate them or not, these are creatures we need.
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Bee's are importan, I say if you don't bug them then you wont get hurt or if their in your home have some one remove them don't do it your self.
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- hellhawk86
- 4 months ago
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Our political representatives should be concerned with these types of issues because if they are not taken seriously everyone will be impacted by this. Forget Paris Hilton, infidelity, the ' race card' or any 'card' for that matter and focus on what truly matters to the existence and wellbeing of the human race. THE ENVIRONMENT (Bees and future sustainability)
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- VynalFrontier
- 4 months ago
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Is introducing bee hives to large greenhouses that are built for the purpose of pollination and honey harvesting the way of the future?
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- Sausmeister
- 4 months ago
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I read a while back that some scientists think proliferation of cell phone towers might somehow be to blame. Combined with that new study of brain tumors, maybe its time to resurrect the phone booth!
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- sbutler356
- 4 months ago
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I have not seen a single honey bee in my garden this summer. I have lots of bumble bees, but no honey bees. Scary!
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Fuck bees!
[...yeah yeah yeah, I know we need 'em]
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Oh no, I LOVE Honey........ especially with my tea. This means there is going to raised in the price of honey. The pleasure of the simple things has changed the lifestyle of an ordinary person.
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While this phenomenon is distrubing....what's even more terrifying is the lack of leadership in dealing with the unfolding natural disaster.
The politicans seem to be sitting on the sidelines either totally disinterested or simply writing the problem off to the private sector and hoping someone, somewhere is paying attention to the issue.
In the States we (thank God!) had a man like Roosevelt during the Great Dust Bowl who actually brought the forces of the US government to bear on the situation to deal with is as effectively as possible.
Some highlights from the timeline of the Great Dust Bowl:
June 1934 - Roosevelt signs the Taylor Grazing Act, which allows him to take up to 140 million acres of federally-owned land out of the public domain and establish grazing districts that will be carefully monitored. One of many New Deal efforts to reverse the damage done to the land by overuse, the program was able to arrest the deterioration, but couldn't undo the historical damage.
January 1935 - The federal government forms a Drought Relief Service to coordinate relief activities. The DRS bought cattle in counties that were designated emergency areas, for $14 to $20 a head. Those unfit for human consumption - more than 50 percent at the beginning of the program - were destroyed. The remaining cattle were given to the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation to be used in food distribution to families nationwide. Although it was difficult for farmers to give up their herds, the cattle slaughter program helped many of them avoid bankruptcy. "The government cattle buying program was a God-send to many farmers, as they could not afford to keep their cattle, and the government paid a better price than they could obtain in local markets."
April 1935 - April 27
Congress declares soil erosion "a national menace" in an act establishing the Soil Conservation Service in the Department of Agriculture (formerly the Soil Erosion Service in the U.S. Department of Interior). Under the direction of Hugh H. Bennett, the SCS developed extensive conservation programs that retained topsoil and prevented irreparable damage to the land. Farming techniques such as strip cropping, terracing, crop rotation, contour plowing, and cover crops were advocated. Farmers were paid to practice soil-conserving farming techniques.---
Considering that bees are critical to agriculture you'd think the governments around the world would be treating the issue with the same seriusness as Roosevelt approached the Dust Bowl.
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Check out this pod on the disappearing bees.
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its amazing how one little creature can effect the survival of all life on earth.
its also amazing how one giant race of creatures can not understand or care enough to protect such little ones.
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- MissAmanda
- 4 months ago
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Honey Bees are as just as important as people.
Sometimes even more so - at least Bees make things that only help the environment... Let's learn lessons about community from them - And eat their honey! LOL -
Wrong. Honey bee deaths were a crisis years ago. We just didn't listen!
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- yaget1chance
- 4 months ago
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Luckily there has been a lot of research put into breeding varroa-resistant bees, specifically in New Zealand and overseas. Hopefully they can put there findings into action. Maybe the government could add a subsidies program for beekeepers to encourage more people to raise them?
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as a person that likes eating food, this really sucks
as a person who is allergic to bees, hooray!
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we are the honey bees
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Please, people, stop saying things like bees are just as important as people...that's like saying a foundation is just as important as a roof! you ever try to hang a roof from a skyhook?? It don't work.
Try taking the item out of the equation and see what happens. Take bees out, pollination stops, plants stop, everything that comes from plant life stops...you get my point. Take bacteria out...things don't run at all, no decomposition, digestion, no anything...Take people out...pollution stops, over fishing stops...over everything stops..basically, the world would still turn..we're the only link that's expendable
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I agree, we are all parts of a bigger picture, be aware (excuse the pun) that we all make up an ever changing system. Bees and pollination are important factors and the decline is a sign of change, but it may not be negative or positive. The cyles of which we are part of are bigger then we can imagine
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O buzz off !
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Someone had to say it ! o and i think there are some 20.000 different types off Bee. Don't worry you'll still get stung !
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And then there is this awesome pod on urban bee keepers. I am beginning to think that it might be time to give it a try.
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This is a really big economic crisis that we have here. Not only is it honey bees, but alot of other animals are starting to die out at a rapid rate. This is a sign that we need to act NOW and stop waiting and praying and hoping and saying we are going to make drastic changes!
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this VERY bad news. colony collapse disorder.
"when the bees go so will humans" - Aristotle.-
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- matlaroche
- 4 months ago
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The earth needs bees. The earth doesn't need people. Interesting, but true. That's the way truth is.
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- handibaby_tgdallas
- 4 months ago
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