There are a number of times where I'm none too optimistic about the chances that our species survives for another thousand years. Today's sign of the apocalypse is the worsening disappearance of honeybees 'round the US and the world.
The problem is something called colony collapse disporder in which a healthy colony of bees is suddenly found with a queen, immature drones, and not a single adult bee - no bodies, no sick bees, nothing...all gone.
THe kneejerk reaction might be that it's no big deal. There'll be fewer bee stings, but we'll get along just fine. True, except for the part where it's no big deal. This loss of bees is going to be a huge, huge deal as bees polinate about - according to the CNN article - a third of our diet is based on products that are bee-pollinated. If we lose the bees, we lose all our fruits and veggies and a lot of our grains and grain-fed meats.
A world without bees is going to be a rough one indeed.
Nothing to be done by us layfolks just yet. Scientists are still looking for a cause, and until they find one, we're at the mercy of Mama Nature's whims...
3 comments:
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-sci-bees26apr26,0,7437491.story?track=mostviewed-homepage
Thanks, Joey...here's to hoping that the first steps have been taken toward a cure...if not, we're looking at being up a creek...
In case anybody wanted the direct link to Joey's article here it is.
It's strange, and there are several theories as to why this is happening...France had already banned chemicals possibly linked to this; cell phone signals have been blamed; the overcrowding of colonies...everything and anything may be at fault.
Post a Comment