I’ve wanted a bee colony for years, maybe even decades, but for years I haven’t lived in a place where I could have one. I’m just fascinated by the work bees do, their complex communities and sophisticated ability to communicate. Sadly the USA seems to be having a case of disappearing bees; even Hilary Clinton seems concerned about the missing bees.
Bee farmers throughout the country are opening their bee hives to find them empty. Speculation suggests that the rampant use of pesticides in this country’s agro-business could be the source of the problem, but no one seems to know for sure. We’ll see how bad the situation gets when produce prices begin to rise due to lack of pollination.
To read the full article look here.
– This post is for my brother, the “bug” lover in the family –
03.18.07 – I just found an entire blog dedicated to urban bees, take a look!
04.14.07 – It seems like Europe is being affected by this problem as well. Read about it here.
09.10.07 –
While bees seem to be disappearing all over the world scientist trying to preserve elephants are finding new ways of encouraging people to keep bees. It appears that elephants are frighten of bees, and that keeping bee hives can both discourage elephants from destroying farmer’s crops, while simultaneously producing honey for local consumption or sale. The only problem is that these are African bees that are known for being aggressive and dangerous. You can read more about this in an article by the BBC.
inthesenewtimes
This link provides background on current CCD crisis:
http://inthesenewtimes.com/2008/05/15/the-disappearing-bees-ccd-and-electromagnetic-radiation/