To Bee or Not to Bee

Our planet is a highly-interrelated eco-system, notwithstanding the belief of many that God will miraculously cure the malevolent imbalances. We’re still learning about what we have done and are continuing to do to our environment and ourselves. We know the big stories coming out of China. We’ve seen how a sustained drought in northeastern Syria was the impetus for rebellion. Heavily populated regions in the United States have been slammed by massive hurricanes (even a superstorm) as withering long-term drought and vast increases in firestorms decimate agricultural land and nature preserves.

But there are little stories out there, some of which people haven’t absolutely linked to climate change, that seem minor… but are growing into major threats in a world of unanticipated consequences. One of them seems particularly small – the mysterious death of honeybees – and it’s not the loss of honey production that is terrifying. The loss of crop pollination threatens farms everywhere. Some say mites and viruses have evolved to resist pesticides. Perhaps say others, they have evolved to counter temperature change. Others claim it’s the overuse of pesticides, maybe even the pesticides themselves.

Since 2005, for example, farmers in California have noticed a massive reduction in the numbers of bees in their fields.  “A mysterious malady that has been killing honeybees en masse for several years appears to have expanded drastically in the last year, commercial beekeepers say, wiping out 40 percent or even 50 percent of the hives needed to pollinate many of the nation’s fruits and vegetables… [B]eekeepers and some researchers say there is growing evidence that a powerful new class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, incorporated into the plants themselves, could be an important factor… The pesticide industry disputes that. But its representatives also say they are open to further studies to clarify what, if anything, is happening…

“The explosive growth of neonicotinoids since 2005 has roughly tracked rising bee deaths… Neonics, as farmers call them, are applied in smaller doses than older pesticides. They are systemic pesticides, often embedded in seeds so that the plant itself carries the chemical that kills insects that feed on it…  Older pesticides could kill bees and other beneficial insects. But while they quickly degraded — often in a matter of days — neonicotinoids persist for weeks and even months. Beekeepers worry that bees carry a summer’s worth of contaminated pollen to hives, where ensuing generations dine on a steady dose of pesticide that, eaten once or twice, might not be dangerous.” New York Times, March 28^th.

There are also reports that insecticides and herbicides generally used on our farms have often prevented harmful insects from maturing to a stage where they can reproduce. Unfortunately, such chemicals may have had the same impact on bees as well. “Eric Mussen, an apiculturist at the University of California, Davis, said analysts had documented about 150 chemical residues in pollen and wax gathered from beehives.” NY Times. The aggregation of harm generated by man’s interference with the environment seems to be accelerating in all directions. Nature doesn’t particularly care if we tamper with our environment; she’s started from scratch before.

I’m Peter Dekom, and the balancing between our commercial desires and our destroying our own environment to get there seems to have tipped much too heavily towards the former.