http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/200 ... /105090022Einstein, "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man will have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."
Worker bees need more rights
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Worker bees need more rights to stay on the job
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Worker bees need more rights to stay on the job
Worker bees need more rights to stay on the job
Colony collapse disorder, commonly known as, "Where the hell did all the bees go," is causing scientists to pull out their hair.
Well, I'm not a scientist, and in fact, only got as far as Biology 101 at Berkeley where I did not distinguish myself, except in the lab where I managed to slip a pithed frog into Valerie Vucavich's makeup kit without her noticing. She was getting the best grade in the class and wrecking the curve, so we were really relieved when she failed to return, and the curve collapsed a little.
I never studied bees much, but always found them fascinating, especially when I stepped on one in my bare feet. Pulling the stinger out was about the most interest I ever showed in a bee, until I read about Vanishing Bee Syndrome, and was scared out of my wits by a quote attributed to Einstein, "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man will have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."
Whoa! Where DID all the bees go? In an attempt to ferret out where the bees have gone and why, I put myself in a bee's mind and tried to tease it out myself; this is my account...
"It's not easy being a bee. The humanoids have taken to renting us out. That's right, they truck us around like cattle, let us out just long enough to pollinate a field, then truck us off to another field somewhere down the road; it's exhausting.
They complain all day about immigration and outsourcing, then they order us to get out of the truck to pollinate 10 acres of alfalfa. Do you know how sick of alfalfa I am? If I never see an alfalfa field again it will be too soon for me.
No, what I want is to be on the beach in Puerto Vallarta, just me and the queen, no drones, surrounded by suckle-honeys, that's what I want, and that's exactly where I'm going to be when winter sets in again.
No, you won't see Big Ben around the alfalfa patch this time next year, it's adios and hasta la vista for me and the queen. Oh, and before we leave, I'm going to give that beekeeper something to remember me by, you can bet your life on that!"
So, there you have it, the bees are stressed and are heading south for a more relaxed lifestyle, and I don't blame them. We have child labor laws, minimum rest period requirements, even minimum length of meal periods, but nothing to prevent us from working the poor worker bee to death. We really need to put some labor laws in place for the worker bee.
Why don't the yellow-jackets take a hike, huh? Tell me that! They're carnivores! If any seven of them ever got together they could carry off a cow! But they're as smart as the honey bee.
Somehow, I hope we can stop the bees from striking. Meanwhile, I suggest we start breeding hummingbirds on hummingbird farms, and get them out there on the job, before it's too late...
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nevadabadgirl
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Organic farming is the answer, IMHO. We keep pouring pesticides on our plants, it gets into the ground and seeps into the groundwater...which in turn is used to water other crops....and the bees end up getting poisoned along with all the other insects. I already only buy organic and free trade food, as much as possible. Maybe I have saved the live of a bumblebee (even though I am deathly allergic to them and actually hate them!)
Hummingbirds...interesting concept and much more pleasant to watch!
Hummingbirds...interesting concept and much more pleasant to watch!
