Why Are All The Bees Dying?

odemagazine.com:

Reports of catastrophic declines in the bee population have scientists buzzing. Is it mites? GM crops? Mobile phones? Habitat loss? Here's what the plight of the humble bee says about our own relationship to nature.

Forget everything you thought you knew about the sedate and rarefied world of beekeeping. Bees are big business. In 2006, a Cornell University study found that in the U.S., bees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops--mostly fruit, vegetables and nuts. In the UK, they are responsible for the pollination of $420 million worth of food crops.

Read the whole story: odemagazine.com

Comments

[Cowtippin]

Its all Bill Clintons fault that the bees are dying too...

[LordMoon]

It's also true that only those bees that are used to polinate non organic crops are dying.

Bees that polinate organic food are doing ok.

The bottom line is we are killing by something we have done, and without them we won't be able to eat.

[fisharefreinds]

"Genetically modified (GM) plants account for about 40 percent of U.S. cornfields. A small study done at the University of Jena in Germany found that pollen from GM corn made the bees more vulnerable to death as a result of carrying the varroa mite. The bacterial toxin in the corn appeared to alter the surface of the bees’ intestines, weakening it enough to allow the parasites to gain entry"

A whole wonderful article on the bees dying off and a look at some of the causes(one that I will send to my high school daughters class who are interested in this subject) and only one paragraph on GM plants by the likes of Monsanto? Monsanto has long been known for their dislike of bees and pollination cutting into seed profits. They have created seeds that cannot replicate and their plants are GM to last only one season (forcing farmers to buy new seeds each season) and there is only a small study for connection here? There are many causes in our environment, to be sure, the ruthless way bees are exploited too but we need more study on all the other risks so we can reverse (I hope) this damage.
Thank you for exploring just some of them.

[jeanruss]

I read an article that said it is because of Monsanto's Roundup pesticide. It was only supposed to be used in extreme situations, but they ignored that and have been selling it for routine use and it's lethal.

[WorkingClass]

Given the totally crappy way they are treated I would guess they are making their bid for freedom. Rock on bees.