Bees Disappearing

Disappearing Bees Are a Big Problem

For the past few years, you’ve probably seen stories and headlines about bees disappearing from their hives. The hives have plenty of honey, there’s ample food in the surrounding area, and no dead bees are found — they’ve simply disappeared.

Many people might consider this a good thing, but the continued decline of bees would be nothing short of an unmitigated disaster for life on earth.

Why?

Because bees pollinate 90% of the commercial plants humans use, from cantaloupes to cotton.  That’s around 70% of the world’s food supply.  Not to mention flowers and countless wild plants that rely on pollination by bees to survive.

It is claimed that Albert Einstein once said, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”

In fact, it wasn’t Einstein but Rudolf Steiner who said this in the 1920s – I suppose the media say this because it’s more attention-grabbing if Einstein’s name is associated with it!  Nonetheless, a lack of bees will cause serious problems – irrespective of who said it.  And the disappearances are strange – and worrying.

These disappearances seem to be happening right now.

Colony collapse disorder (CCD) — a mysterious condition where entire bee colonies die for seemingly no obvious reason — has been inflicting bee populations across both Europe and the US. But scientists from the United Nations (UN) say the phenomenon is now a global crisis, afflicting bees across China, Japan, and Africa, as well as in other places.

No one is sure exactly what is causing colony collapse disorder, but it is being found across the globe and may be a greater threat to life on this planet than climate change.

No more bees – no more food.

“Human beings have fabricated the illusion that in the 21st century they have the technological prowess to be independent of nature,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director. “Bees underline the reality that we are more, not less, dependent on nature’s services in a world of close to seven billion people.”

So, what is causing this problem with bees?

There are several theories, and several studies and reports which all seem to ‘prove’ a different cause.  Probably, it is most likely to be a combination of several causes.  Here are the most commonly accepted reasons:

• The use of toxic pesticides and herbicides, which several recent studies have pinned to the widespread bee deaths.  In January 2011, a leaked document revealed that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved a bee-killing pesticide known as clothianidin – this chemical is widely used on agricultural crops to kill pests.
•  In the UK, researchers at the University of Warwick believe that parasitic Varroa mites might be behind the honeybee’s decline; the mites can feed on young or old bees, and their presence usually spells doom for the entire colony.
• Yet other research has shown no concrete evidence pointing to disease or predation, or of mites.  Some beekeepers reported that moths, animals and other bees were steering clear of newly empty nests, leading to speculation that chemical contamination due to widespread use of pesticides might be to blame.
• Cell phones:  research conducted in Lausanne, Switzerland (more than 83 experiments) has shown that the signal from cell phones not only confuses bees, but also may lead to their death.  With most of the population of the United States (and the rest of the world) owning cell phones, the impact has been greatly noticeable.   in tests, the bees sensed the signals transmitted when the phones rang, and emitted heavy buzzing noises during the calls.  The calls seemed to act as a warning to leave the hive, but the frequency confused the bees, causing them to fly erratically, and become lost and disoriented.   As it is unlikely that the world will learn to forgo the convenience of cell phones, it is unclear how much they will contribute to the decline of bees, and their impact on the environment.
• The process of transporting bees over long distances in order to pollinate crops may cause stress, depress the bees’ immune system, expose them to additional pathogens and/or affect their navigational abilities.  Plus they are often fed syrups and patties instead of their normal varied diet.  When bees pollinate commercial crops, their diet consists only of that mono-crop – and a non-varied diet is not normally good.   Researchers point to the possibility of “a perfect storm of existing stresses” weakening colonies to the point of collapse:  stress compromises the immune system of bees, and may disrupt their social system, making colonies more susceptible to disease.
• In one study, researchers from Columbia University isolated the presence of a virus—the so-called Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus—in many of the hives studied that were affected by CCD.  Other studies point to widespread use of Imidacloprid, a common grub-control chemical used on lawns and farms, which has already been banned in France due to its alleged effect on bees.
• Other suggestions:  There is support for the idea that genetically-modified crops are to blame for CCD, but as yet no studies prove this conclusively either.  Some unknown pathogen or other factor may be affecting bees’ ability to navigate.  Alternatively, honeybees may have too little genetic diversity, making the species as a whole susceptible to widespread disease.

Not surprisingly perhaps, organic beekeepers have not experienced CCD in significant numbers.

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