Bees vanish- all life has 4 yrs to live on Earth

reply to post by interestedalways


Yes it was some what of a spoof but it did give some good info and the researchers names were made up what I wanted to show you in this spoof site the seriousness about the disappearing Bee and many not taking it that serious.

Here is some real research sites:

www.spiegel.de...

www.byronballinagreens.org...

Thanks for your input. Rik Riley

[edit on 26-5-2008 by rikriley]

reply to post by rikriley
Well I have to say I am surprised at youre reply to my post as others seem so quick to get into argumentation before evalutaing the statement. So Bravo! Seriously though:

I have heard the representation of Einstein's statement,stated in this thread, and would like to interject, if you don't mind! I'm no scholar evidenced by my grammer but the statement referred to in this thread regarding honey bee's was made when contemplating the theories of relativity,General, and Specific. They were comments only recently revealed in the disclosure of his manuscripts to his first wife, the one who bore his children.

I believe the manuscripts were written in German, his native tounge, And really interpreted as a hypothetical, such as, if all things are relative everything in life has a profound effect on the other thing, If a honey bee were not to pollinate would the vegetation die such as would happen if the sun refused to shine, not nearly an exact quote but more realistic context of conversation.

Gotta go thanks for the respect!!!!

Originally posted by rikriley
Einstein once said if the bees vanish then all life on Earth has 4 years to live.

Approximately 80% of all insect pollination is completed by honey bees. The disappearance and the dying off of hundreds of millions of honey bees has the scientific community sounding the alarm that the human race could be in serious trouble.

It's called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and for a few thoughts on this most alarmist of statements, we turn to the other side of the coin...

Few people realized that the honeybee apocalypse was already over...The stragglers have been kept alive only by the continued ministrations of the agricultural giga-industry that needs them...

...This year the California Almond Board two-timed the honeybee with Osmia lignaria—the blue-orchard bee: Despite CCD, they had a record harvest.

Why You Shouldn't Be Panicking

And if all the bees, including the much-hyped and so far spectacular-fizzer Africanised Killer Bee, disappeared from the earth we might be in for a problem. But this disappearance is pretty much isolated to the States. So, a little longer than 4 years to go...

edit: quotes, sp

[edit on 27-5-2008 by HowlrunnerIV]

reply to post by HowlrunnerIV


Thanks HowlrunnerIV for the info on CCD colony Collapse Disorder. The CCD has been covered earlier in the thread and still there are concerns on the disappearing of the Honey Bee due to the genetically modified crops that are being grown. We hope this is a turn around you presented and our Honey Bees are here to stay. Rik Riley

reply to post by rikriley


I think the point is that CCD is a perfectly normal phenomena that has become abnormally dangerous because of the current abnormality of Honey Bee hives, or, rather, the management practices that have created that abnormality.

Were Honey Bee hives static and virtually wild then CCD wouldn't have had nearly the effect it has. Also, had Honey Bee hives been allowed to go through CCD unassisted then the Honey Bee population should have come out the other side with a new immunity and a chance to rebuild.

As for Honey Bee populations turning around; not gonna happen (well, probably not gonna happen), but also not a problem. There are many, many types of bees and the others will just step in to take their place. They have already begun to.

reply to post by HowlrunnerIV


The American Indian got along fine without the Honey Bee before it was brought over from Europe even though they did not have the agriculture that we have today. You are correct there are other types of bees and insects that aid in pollination but I feel if the Honey Bee declines this will affect the pollination of our needed crops. Rik Riley

reply to post by grover


my point exactly i know someone who owns a be farm and lets colledge kids observe them and as far as im concerned there is no problem. She isnt having any problems except for the quees but now even thats getting to an end what im saying is A. all of those people saying the world will end in 4 years are not basing it off logical science just what appeals to them and i dont have a B. right now but just you wait

reply to post by SKUNK2


Unless the wasps were able to move in BECAUSE of the lack of bees.

Before the introduction of the European honeybee into the Americas by immigrants in the 1600s there were plenty of native pollinators. Including other insects, blue orchard bees, bumblebees and others. If we lost the European strain all together, there would still be options.
The European strains (there are 4 major ones) have been reduced by about 20 percent by what is called vanishing hive syndrome. It is being researched extensively in the US and Europe.
Strangely enough it has not been seen in africanized honeybees. The africanized honeybees cover South and Central America as well as some of the southern US. They will eventually cover about half of the US based on migration and climate studies. The africanized honeybees are better pollinators, hardier stock and more prolific honey producers. They are used in apiaries from Peru to Mexico and can be found wild from California to Texas.
On top of these options, we still have 80% of the non native honeybees left and time to figure out the answers.
Want to help the honeybees?
Buy a few hives and set up a colony or two in your back yard. It's not that hard to do and is very rewarding.




[edit on 23-1-2009 by badgerprints]

Unlike in an enclosed limited artificial environment, the global environment has OTHER pollinators that move into the niche. Haven't you noticed an increase in other pollinators? Wild bees, wasps, bee-analogue flies, etc.

The problem for food production is that bees that we use are nice and domesticated in many ways. Makes pollinating your crop easier.

In 2008 I grew a couple tomato plants. I only saw a couple bee's so I used a bird feather I found and used it over each flower for a couple days. I did get a good crop 3 dozen or so. Neighbors all on both sides of me got none. That kind of scared me. We need our little workers back.

[edit on 24-1-2009 by Kanati]

www.nrdc.org...

The list of crops that simply won’t grow without honey bees is a long one: Apples, cucumbers, broccoli, onions, pumpkins, carrots, avocados, almonds … and it goes on.

Without bees to pollinate many of our favorite fruits and vegetables, the United States could lose $15 billion worth of crops -- not to mention what it would do to your diet.
bee on a flower

Honey bees are important pollinators for both flowers and agricultural crops.

Beekeepers first sounded the alarm about disappearing bees in 2006. Seemingly healthy bees were simply abandoning their hives en masse, never to return. Researchers call the mass disappearance Colony Collapse Disorder, and they estimate that nearly one-third of all honey bee colonies in the country have vanished.

Why are the bees leaving? Scientists studying the disorder believe a combination of factors could be making bees sick, including pesticide exposure, invasive parasitic mites, an inadequate food supply and a new virus that targets bees' immune systems. More research is essential to determine the exact cause of the bees' distress.

Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture has allotted $20 million over the next five years for research, that amount pales in comparison with the potential loss of $15 billion worth of crops that bees pollinate every year. And the USDA has so far failed to aggressively seek out a solution.

If we don’t act now to save the honey bee, it might be too late. And no honey bees will mean no more of your favorite fruits and vegetables.

Here’s a list of what bees pollinate:
Take Action Now!
URGE USDA TO ACT

Tell the Department of Agriculture to act now to save bees and crops.
Take Action Now
Watch the Video
vanishing of the bees video

Learn more about Colony Collapse Disorder in this video produced for OnEarth magazine.
WHAT YOU CAN DO

* Make your garden bee-safe
* Read "The Vanishing" in OnEarth magazine

Fruits and Nuts Vegetables Field Crops

* Almonds
* Apples
* Apricots
* Avocadoes
* Blueberries
* Boysenberries
* Cherries
* Citrus
* Cranberries
* Grapes
* Kiwifruit
* Loganberries
* Macadamia nuts
* Nectarines
* Olives
* Peaches
* Pears
* Plums/Prunes
* Raspberries
* Strawberries



* Asparagus
* Broccoli
* Carrots
* Cauliflower
* Celery
* Cucumbers
* Cantaloupe
* Honeydew
* Onions
* Pumpkins
* Squash
* Watermelons



* Alfalfa Hay
* Alfalfa Seed
* Cotton Lint
* Cotton Seed
* Legume Seed
* Peanuts
* Rapeseed
* Soybeans
* Sugar Beets
* Sunflowers

To those saying its only isolated problem in America. This is not true as its happening around the world. It just hit Australian shores too.

[edit on 7-6-2009 by Applesandoranges]

I just wanted to give a little not in my two cents. For clarification, I have not seen a honey bee on the surface since about 2006, 2007 at the earliest so I can see the panic and what not.

However, earlier this year I began mountain trekking. I live in rural Pennsylvania so the Appalacians are my only option. Anywho, the biggest thing I noticed as I reached the high points of certain areas:

honey bees.

Yes our good old friends, and there are quite a few. Though I have yet to find a nest, I can honestly say that I've seen hundreds, but they only start to appear once past about 800-900 feet in elevation or higher.

Am I on to something or has this been mentioned before?

reply to post by Applesandoranges


Okay, sorry to jump on you like this, but...

That list is utter crap.

All of those plants WILL grow without the assistance of HONEY bees. They will also POLLINATE without the assistance of HONEY bees.

The point of CCD, and of the slate article I linked to earlier, is that it has affected ONE type of bee. Do you know how many different types of bees there are? They can also pollinate plants. In fact that is exactly what they do. Pollinate plants. All bees do it.

Even bumblebees do it (so do Blue Orchard Bees).

Why You Shouldn't Be Panicking

The point about CCD is that it is happening to the MANAGED hives (or colonies) of the EUROPEAN Honey Bee. It's an introduced species, it is not native to the shores of the US. Or Australia for that matter.

Yet, funnily enough, plant life in those places did just fine without the European Honey Bee for millions of years. Hmm.

There are some 25,000 identified species of bee out there, so it might be time to lay off the panic a little.

reply to post by gwydionblack


No, I haven't heard this mentioned before. However, given the massive number of bee species out there, it's quite possible that what you've found are not honey bees, but one of the actually wild species.

I posted a thread on something very similar a while back; www.abovetopsecret.com...

Things are getting gradually worse.
I have only seen one bee so far this year and have yet so see a wasp.

When I was a child they were everywhere.

There were many butterflies when i was a kid. Now i havent seen a butterfly for many years.

Well i found this article:
www.dirtdoctor.com...

Colony Collapse Disorder in domestic honey bees is all the buzz lately, mostly because honey bees pollinate food crops for humans.

However, we would not be so dependent on commercial non-native factory farmed honey bees if we were not killing off native pollinators. Organic agriculture does not use chemicals or crops toxic to bees and, done properly, preserves wildlife habitat in the vicinity, recognizing the intimate relationship between cultivated fields and natural areas.

While no one is certain why honey bee colonies are collapsing, factory farmed honey bees are more susceptible to stress from environmental sources than organic or feral honey bees. Most people think beekeeping is all natural but in commercial operations the bees are treated much like livestock on factory farms.

I'm on an organic beekeeping email list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The problem with commercial operations is pesticides used in hives to fumigate for varroa mites and antibiotics are fed to the bees to prevent disease. Hives are hauled long distances by truck, often several times during the growing season, to provide pollination services to industrial agriculture crops, which further stresses the colonies and exposes them to agricultural pesticides and GMOs.

Bees have been bred for the past 100 years to be much larger than they would be if left to their own devices. If you find a feral honeybee colony in a tree, for example, the cells bees use for egg-laying will be about 4.9 mm wide. This is the size they want to build ­ the natural size.

The foundation wax that beekeepers buy have cells that are 5.4 mm wide so eggs laid in these cells produce much bigger bees. It's the same factory farm mentality we've used to produce other livestock ­ bigger is better. But the bigger bees do not fare as well as natural-size bees.

Varroa mites, a relatively new problem in North America, will multiply and gradually weaken a colony of large bees so that it dies within a few years. Mites enter a cell containing larvae just before the cell is capped over with wax. While the cell is capped, the bee transforms into an adult and varroa mites breed and multiply while feeding on the larvae.

The larvae of natural bees spend less time in this capped over stage, resulting in a significant decrease in the number of varroa mites produced. In fact, very low levels of mites are tolerated by the bees and do not affect the health of the colony. Natural-size bees, unlike large bees, detect the presence of varroa mites in capped over cells and can be observed chewing off the wax cap and killing the mites. Colonies of natural-size bees are healthier in the absence mites, which are vectors for many diseases.

It's now possible to buy small cell foundation from US suppliers, but most beekeepers in Canada have either never heard of small cell beekeeping, aren't willing to put the effort into changing or are skeptical of the benefits. This alternative is not promoted at all by the Canadian Honey Council, an organization representing the beekeeping industry, which even tells its members on their website that, "The limitations to disease control mean that losses can be high for organic beekeepers." [ref link]

Organic beekeeping, as defined by certification agencies, allows the use of less toxic chemicals. It's more an IPM approach to beekeeping than organic.

Commercial beekeeping today is just another cog in the wheel of industrial agriculture ­ necessary because pesticides and habitat loss are killing native pollinators, and vast tracks of monoculture crops aren't integrated into the natural landscape.

In an organic Canada, native pollinators would flourish and small diversified farms would keep their own natural bees for pollination and local honey sales.

The factory farm aspects of beekeeping, combined with an onslaught of negative environmental factors, puts enough stress on the colonies that they are more susceptible to dying out.

Originally posted by Vasilis Azoth
This bee die off IS very serious, but...

Einstein wasn't a biologist and although I love his wisdom(ussually) in this case he is clearly wrong.

Bee's aren't the only method of pollination. Thousands of other types of insects do it as well. Not to mention the wind. So although the ecology might suffer a collapse and OUR envirounment might become unlivable for a while LIFE would go on just fine. Probably better without us actually.

Vas

In fact Einstein NEVER stated such a Myth! I quoted your statement because it is so true to the fact and it needs to be shown again to those who have bitten into the poo we call the media!!
It's bad that honeybees are dying off, but it will not cause the end of mankind.

Sorry to disagree (well I'm not actually )

The bush outside my front window is absloutely covered in honey bees - I mean theres are hundreds of them every day. As for butterflies i see loads of these too. if you want to see more plant accordingly in whatever space you have - pots/troughs on window sills all help and encourage bees etc to come and pollinate whatever food you are also growing.

remember too moths and butterflies need plants like nettles to lay eggs and for the caterpillars to eat.

Any flower that is not a 'double' flower will help. Go to any disused area near where you live and stand still near any flowering plant, remember some flowers are tiny and you will see many insects, anywhere thats overgrown will host thousands of insects just TAKE THE TIME OUT AND LOOK. Also it will chill you out and always make me happier and more content - as long as I focus on nature and not what WE are doing to it.

www.earthfiles.com...

Bees dying again it sounds like.