Decline of honey bees now a global phenomenon, says United Nations

[Newsjock]

Source: The Independent (UK)

The mysterious collapse of honey-bee colonies is becoming a global phenomenon, scientists working for the United Nations have revealed.

Declines in managed bee colonies, seen increasingly in Europe and the US in the past decade, are also now being observed in China and Japan and there are the first signs of African collapses from Egypt, according to the report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The authors, who include some of the world's leading honey-bee experts, issue a stark warning about the disappearance of bees, which are increasingly important as crop pollinators around the globe. Without profound changes to the way human beings manage the planet, they say, declines in pollinators needed to feed a growing global population are likely to continue.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/decline-of-honey-bees-now-a-global-phenomenon-says-united-nations-2237541.html

[CountAllVotes]

1. and this is not a "natural occurrence"

:(

:kick:

[marasinghe]

6. call me paranoid, but, i wouldn't be surprised if monsanto & their worker bees & their kind -

knew this was coming & didn't say shit.
'cos the dumbasses figured this would give them new market opportunity.
they are as greedily stupid as all that.

[Rabblevox]

8. call me even more paranoid, I wouldn't be surprised in Monsanto was behind it...

and that they have GMO self-pollinating crops patented and ready to roll.

Next step, Soylent Green

[Exultant Democracy]

10. yup, monsanto is recklessly evil.

[SpiralHawk]

15. Probably just a 'coincidence' that the decline began after GMO crapola seeds

began polluting the planet...

[HCE SuiGeneris]

2. K & R

[libodem]

3. After Rummy

Let the West Nile Virus,loose on us in '03, they had to spray the shit out of the mosquitos. I blame cross drift.

[Marnie]

4. Reintroduce wild type.

Honey bee queens are highly inbred and sold.
Queens born into a hive are killed and queens are purchased who come from registered stock with proven high production levels.

That means a lot of inbreeding and a loss of the vigor of the wild bees.

That means less ability to resit diseases and no ability to develop resistances or adaptations to an environment now filled with human made chemicals that the hybridized bees are not being bread selectively to be able to cope with.

[KoKo]

5. Our White House and Michelle's Organic Garden must be doing something right with Honey Bees...

Our President gave "Home Made Honey BEER" to guests at the WH last week.

So...what's going on with honey bees if the White House can raise them and mine the honey combs for Homemade Beer?

:shrug:

Here's link with photo and article about Obama and Michelle's Homemade Brew!

http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2011/03/obamas-make-history-with-homebrewed.html

[jwirr]

9. If I am not mistaken they have their own hives.

[lovuian]

7. I bet it will coordinate with GM seeds being introduced

all over the world

we are seriously screwed

[defendandprotect]

11. Point is, people in government aren't reacting -- because they're corporate -- !!

We're going to have to turn this whole thing upside down ---

that is, when we all wake up!!

[concreteblue]

12. bee killing pesticide ok'd on faulty science....

http://www.rodale.com/beekeepers

[libodem]

13. Corporations drive the bees around in trucks

For profit. The bees have been hijacked.

[The2ndWheel]

14. "Without profound changes to the way human beings manage the planet"

It's analogous to corporations writing the rules that govern them. Government doesn't work when that happens. Guess what? The planet isn't going to work if it's privatized for the interests of a single species either.

[Javaman]

16. I just ordered my first bees!

I start my first hive in May!

It's easy folks, you can do it in your back yard.

read up on it.

Get, what is called, a garden hive. Just a brood and a super. Whole thing about 2 1/2 feet tall.

Order you queen and 3 pounds of bees and you are off to the races.

[Vinee]

17. I have a wild honey bee colony in a tree in my back yard

I have been finding bits of comb on the ground around the tree though so I'm hoping nothing bothered them over the winter.