We Can’t Eat Money (Bees & Colony Collapse Disorder)
In which I deliver a brief, off-topic rant about colony collapse disorder, which is causing billions upon billions of honeybees to disappear world-wide.

I’m sitting here watching “Vanishing of the Bees,” a documentary about colony collapse disorder, which is killing bees worldwide. (One example: 40,000 hives in California abandoned for no discernible reason over the course of 3 weeks. That’s more than 2 billion bees.)
One culprit in the United States: systemic pesticides on our crops. And guess why? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency never does their own research. This federal agency relies on the research done by the chemical companies, who stand to gain the most from keeping systemic pesticides on the market.
Systemic pesticides are the grandchildren of chemical warfare developed in Germany during World War II. Germany, France, and many other European companies have already banned these pesticides. When will the United States wake up?
And why is any of this important? Well, aside from the effects of pesticides upon the human nervous system, there’s also pollination. No honeybees means no pollination, which means no fruits and vegetables. Do you want to pay $25.00 for a tomato?
The future of the honeybee will define humanity’s ability to live on this planet.
“Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned, the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we can’t eat money.”
~Cree Indian Proverb
As all of our lives are intertwined, what happens to bees will affect us as well. Thanks for creating some buzz about this, Courtney! ;-D
Sue, ripples always do spread farther than we realize — both for good and for ill! More people need to be aware of this problem, and I’m certainly happy to do my part by making some buzzy noise. ; )
Thanks so much for visiting and commenting!
It’s great to see posts like this Courtney. The more we have people understanding honey bee challenges, the more likely we’ll get activists to do “do” things.
My company is focused on supplying an alternative bee to the future honey bee challenged orchards. We educate gardeners on how easy it is to raise the gentle mason bee.
In 5 years, we’re going to need excess mason bees from backyard gardener’s homes to pollinate regional commercial orchards. Getting your readers active now, will assist the food supply in this decade.
Dave Hunter
http://www.crownbees.com
Thanks for reading and commenting, Dave! Very interesting to know about the mason bees. Since watching that documentary, I’ve been mulling over the idea of becoming a hobbyist beekeeper, myself!
That would be years down the road, unfortunately, since my current living situation wouldn’t allow for it…but once the living situation changes, I’ll be investigating farther. I’ve always considered bees fascinating, and now I think there’s a chance I could fall in love with them. : )
I don’t think enough people realize what bees do for us, rather regarding them as pests. And I wonder what the pesticide companies will do when there are no more crops to treat? Shortsightedness will be the end of us all.
I have also heard it forwarded that the use of genetically modified crops may be a factor to CCD.
Thanks for this post–get the word out!
Thank you for commenting, Rob! I would be surprised if GMOs weren’t somehow connected. The docu didn’t mention them, as far as I remember…. But the theories of what is causing the crisis all seem to point toward the bees’ pollen source as the main culprit.
(The other main possible culprit they showcased is migratory beekeeping: transporting the hives all over the country just so they can pollinate other states’ crops. Too much to go into here…but definitely a practice detrimental to the bees.)