Save the Bees!

Pesticide corporations are destroying bee colonies. A pollination-free world is a place you don’t want to go. Sign the petition and tell the EPA you disapprove of living without fruits and vegetables, and support banning pesticides which kill bees. Start your apiary this summer!

14 Comments

Sherman

about 13 years ago

OK, this post bothers me.  I've tried to let it go, but I'm not smart enough to.  I'm sure I will be hammered for this, but here goes.  To state that the decline in the bee population is caused by pesticides is misguided and narrow minded.  The truth is, scientists don't know why the bee population is dropping so fast.  Now, I'm not a fan of pesticides, but to think that if we just get rid of them, the bee population will automatically rebound is a little naive.  There is some evidence that cell phone towers may be part of the cause, so why don't we all destroy all cell phone towers?  Jumping to the conclusion that pesticides are the reason just seems a little short-sighted to me.

Jadiaz

about 13 years ago

Study finds causes of Colony Collapse Disorder in bees 

CCD is caused by a combination of a fungus and a virus working together. Both must be present to cause CCD. 

A simple Google search is all that is needed to bring up the articles and research that proves this. I posted the article above as it is simple, and describes it wonderfully.

Getting rid of pesticides may make food more organic, but won't stop CCD.

Herzog

about 13 years ago

Sherman, 
what do your studies on Clothiandin conclude?  The EPA will be sure to take note, as your safety is in their number one concern.  They'll do anything to make sure pesticides aren't hurting you.  
What's bad for the goose is bad for the gander.  No quarter, son...
 
Clothianidin is a widely used pesticide linked to a severe and dangerous decline in honeybee populations. We are writing to request that you take urgent action to stop the use of this toxic chemical. As we are sure you appreciate, the failure of the agency to provide adequate protection for pollinators creates an emergency with imminent hazards: Food production, public health and the environment are all seriously threatened, and the collapse of the commercial honeybee-keeping industry would result in economic harm of the highest magnitude for U.S. agriculture. 

The science shows that clothianidin-contaminated pollen and nectar presents an imminent hazard. Because the hazards to honeybee health are present within registered use parameters, it is clear that label changes and use restrictions will not offer adequate protection. We therefore urge the agency to issue a stop use order immediately. Our nation cannot afford, and the environment cannot tolerate another growing season of clothianindin use. 

In addition, because this problem reflects an overuse of the conditional registration program, we urge you to set an immediate moratorium on the use of such registrations until the program is fully evaluated for compliance with its underlying statutory responsibilities. The conditional registration of clothianidin in 2003 with outstanding data critical to its safety assessment represents a failure that could and should have been avoided. 

So, what they're saying here, is pesticides, mostly suck... And aren't helping bees, and yes, cell phones cause accidents, and alter brain waves, and verdicts on all of the above all still out, until definitive proof exists.  Its still hard to prove grandma died from cigarettes though isn't it?  Cigarettes were considered healthy at one point too. This spring, Home Depot will roll out their section of garden variety pesticides where you enter the store.  Do yourself a favor, and go stand by them for 15 minutes, then come back, and tell me how it made you feel.  If it gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling, instead of making you feel nauseated, I'll apologize to all those heroic pesticide companies right here on PDD.

Queenofthesun.com

Herzog

about 13 years ago

And Jadiaz, not sure if you read it, but this report, dated October '10 adds "further evidence to the evolving picture that there are complex interactions taking place between a number of factors, pathogens, environmental, beekeeping practices and other stressors, which are causing honey bee losses described as CCD in the US. No single or combination of factors has satisfactorily explained CCD to date."  Translated: Don't know, or not telling. 

So realize, new information might be coming to light here man. I'm no scientist, but seeing as how bees have done fine for the last oh say, billion years,  it may be a clue, that something we're doing is the nasty little cause of CCD.
For now I suggest this simple test. Buy a bag of pesticides, sprinkle it on your carpet, work it in, and see how it makes you feel in a few hours of exposure.  Millions of pounds and gallons of Roundup and whatever else will be going into the ground in six weeks so your neighbors can have greener lawns than you. 2011's spring selection of lawn chemicals will be ours to cherish for all time. Weeds aren't evil, greed is.
Queen of the Sun.com

Bret

about 13 years ago

The cause of bee colony collapse is indeed complex, but pesticide use is one of the contributing factors (along with viruses, mites, fungus, loss of habitat).  The pesticide issue is important and we need to address any and all of these contributing factors and the use of pesticides is one of the easier to address.

This publication is useful: http://www.extension.umn.edu/honeybees/components/pdfs/The-Plight-of-the-Bees.pdf

Herzog

about 13 years ago

Start at the beginning. Monoculture is bad. Monoculture relies on an endless stream of more 'new-and-advanced' patented chemicals to deal with the previous problems chemical corporations created with their patented pesticides and GMOs. This messes with nature, big time.
 MonsterCorp makes a genetically modified turnip, and in turn, nature creates a new bug that is able to eat the new turnip, but also happens to kill bees.  The problem isn't pesticides, it's the people that use them. Myopic profit inspires these companies to create their patented food-chain destroying "solutions" to counteract problems they created in the first place, so they can buy extra homes in the Virgin Islands, instead of working on earth friendly technologies that don't destroy the food chain. Then get payed to solve the problems they created in the first place. Sound familiar?  Asking the EPA to ban "Clothianidin" is sure as heck-fire a humble place to start.  Will it save all the bees?  Maybe not.  But if you can't pronounce it, or it has a lot of ianidinides in it, it's probably not cool.

How many have heard of propolis?  Aware of its anti viral properties?  European pharmacies have it everywhere. It knocked my cold out in hours, but you can barely get it here. So while they're diligently using your tax dollars testing everything from dog shit to napkins to see if they have any effect on HIV, a Wisconsin lady in her own spare time found propolis  (a by-product from bees used to glue their hives together), has a tendency to kill HIV.  Problem?  You can't patent it.
And because they can't make money on it, you screw the pooch.
Cancer drugs: $150,000.00 
Therein lies the real problem with socialism.

Save the bees.

Herzog

about 13 years ago

http://davidbozek.net/2011/03/03/did-you-know-that-propolis-kills-the-hiv-virus-that-causes-aids/  oh shit! Really?

Bret

about 13 years ago

Herzog, do you raise bees in the Duluth area?  If so, contact me privately at [email protected]

Herzog

about 13 years ago

In case you missed it:
The incredible powers of honey heal in TCM and worldwide medicine

by


Wildflower Honey in Here?
Christopher Gussa


(NaturalNews) Honey's ability to heal wounds and treat infections is quite notable. It also is known for its antioxidant, antibiotic and antiviral capabilities. Honey is 18 to 20 percent water and is comprised of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose and vitamins A, B-complex, C, D, E, K and beta-carotene, as well as plenty of minerals and enzymes. Raw, unprocessed honey has the most medicinal and nutritional value. (The fructose in raw honey does not, in any way, have the same negative effect as fructose from corn syrup.) It is also a very important and valuable component of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

In TCM, Honey is known as Feng Mi and has the ability to nourish yin energy and strengthen the spleen. Apart from its widely recognized nutritional value, honey is also the Chinese people's favorite as a "neutral" food with medicinal properties.

In the "Compendium of Materia Medica," the TCM classic by pharmacist Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), "Honey can help dispel pathogenic heat, clear away toxins, relieve pain and combat dehydration." Li Shizhen showed that eating honey regularly resulted in clear sight and rosy cheeks. He also wrote that eating honey every morning can help prevent constipation and it is a good choice for those who suffer chronic coughing.

TCM also shows that due to honey's affinity for the stomach and spleen it can greatly enhance the effect of many of the super-tonics such as He Shou Wu
( http://www.naturalnews.com/026786_H... ) and Ci Wu Jia known as Siberian Ginseng
( http://www.naturalnews.com/024235_g... ). You will often see liquid extracts of these herbs combined with honey sold in small bottles at many Chinese herb stores.

One of the most remarkable combinations is taking Shilajit with honey.
( http://www.naturalnews.com/029498_S... )
Shilajit already contains 87 minerals and is naturally backed with fulvic acid for absorption into the tissue. However when raw honey is added to the mix, it is said to multiply the amount of minerals that the body truly utilizes by a factor of three!

In a study of 104 patients with first-degree burns, researchers in Maharashtra, India, compared honey's effectiveness to gauze soaked in silver sulfadiazine (the conventional treatment). After seven days, 91 percent of honey-treated burns were infection-free compared with 7 percent of those treated with SS. After 15 days, 87 percent of honey-treated burns were healed compared with 10 percent of the SS-treated burns. The raw wildflower honey formed a flexible protective barrier which prevented infection, absorbed pus, and reduced pain, irritation and odor.

Researchers in Sanaa, Yemen, treated 50 patients with wound infections following cesarean section or hysterectomy twice daily with either raw wildflower honey or a standard antiseptic solution of alcohol and iodine (AI). The 26 treated with honey were infection-free after six days compared with 15 days for the 24 treated with AI. Eighty-four percent of honey patients healed cleanly compared with 50 percent of all patients. Honey treatment reduced the average postoperative scar width by nearly two-thirds and hospitalization duration by half.

Raw honey is applied directly to the skin of an open wound in liberal amounts as often as needed. Bacteria cannot live, so infections always reverse. Best of all, scarring is basically avoided or unbelievably reduced. Wherever honey is applied it helps transform damaged skin into healthy new skin within a week. Long live our wonderful bees!

Sources:
http://www.drgrotte.com/honey-medic...
http://www.bee-hexagon.net
http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies...
Dr. Wen Zi -U of A Medical Center

Icantbelieveitsnotben

about 13 years ago

Wait... What? 

Herzog, would you care to explain your "Therein lies the real problem with socialism" Non sequitur. I really don't see where in your post that you show that Socialism is not a viable option.

Herzog

about 13 years ago

I haven't raised bees yet, but I've learned how as an enthusiast and it's not hard, but you need some space and lots of flowers. A few setup costs, but minimal. The amount of national support for this, as yet, seems challenged at best. That might change. A few suppliers to choose from, but not any real 'Save the Bees' campaigns flowering yet to speak of.   A 'mostly older folks living in the country' kind of thing still, as that too needs to change. There is a guy at the farmer's market in the know, but he's one of many local beekeepers I suspect. I'd just like to see people promoting, supporting and raising awareness.  Its fun for kids in the summer, as is gardening, and the two coexist swimmingly. (You'll  want to teach kids to control their fear around bees so they won't sting, because fear is released in hormones and bees can understand that as can most any other animal.) It's a great learning tool. Insects are cool, the native ones are even cooler, and kids have a natural desire to learn about that which freaks them out. 

Regardless of reasons for colony decline, there's much focus on global warming, and not enough on pollution. The upper midwest has had the least loss of colonies, so people around here have no experience with it, are still afraid of bees, and certainly not with any great knowledge about maintaining them in a backyard setting.   Much of the decline is in the Middle East and California. Petrochemicals and mismanagement of crops are probably what caused bees to loose immunity to invaders or virus/fungus, but who knows for sure?
 Those companies who produce harmful, DNA incompatible chemicals for pest controls and fertilizers should be encouraged and compelled to divert their resources to create sustainable products instead, it falls under 'in the best interest of everyone'.  Nature has proven itself resilient, but only laws can prevent plasticized oceans and poisons.   Now that scientists have invented this mite resistant bee with hopes it doesn't mutate into Dick Cheney (see article below), maybe it'll all work out in the end, and save that fundamental process to life and our food supply, called pollination- that which gives us nice strawberries in the summer,  apples in the autumn, and most every other food we desire. 
 Give your opinion to the EPA and senators on whether or not to continue such pesticides proven harmful to life, and tell friends and family about the healthy effects of bees and honey. Your freedom of speech is sacred, express it through buying honey in bulk at the local co-op, make Baklava, bees wax candles, smear it on after a devastating burn, cure a virus, or use it as an enhancement for your next romantic interlude, whatever.  While a sting may hurt, its still good for arthritis, and it won't kill you, unless you're allergic.  

I've asked the makers of Queen of the Sun to come to Zinema 2 for a screening. Though it may go down like so much liberal balderdash for some is of no consequence. Others will see the importance of reconnecting to terra bella firma as it brings you back to where you once belonged. So let the power of nature wash over you while beholding the wonders of creation. Plant a nice flower garden this spring. Hug the bunnies and the trees. Be one with the bees.  

    
http://news.discovery.com/animals/honeybee-mite-sniffers-
colony.html

Herzog

about 13 years ago

Over the concerns of its own scientists, the Environmental Protection Agency continues to approve a controversial pesticide introduced to U.S. markets shortly before the honeybee collapse, according to documents leaked to a Colorado beekeeper.

The pesticide, called clothianidin, is manufactured by German agrochemical company Bayer, though it's actually banned in Germany. It's also banned in France, Italy and Slovenia. Those countries fear that clothianidin, which is designed to be absorbed by plant tissue and released in pollen and nectar to kill pests, is also dangerous to pollen- and nectar-eating bees that are critical to some plants' reproductive success.

In 2003, the EPA approved clothianidin for use in the United States. Since then, it's become widely used, with farmers purchasing $262 million worth of clothianidin last year. It's used on used on sugar beets, canola, soy, sunflowers, wheat and corn, the last a pollen-rich crop planted more widely than any other in the United States, and a dietary favorite of honeybees.

During this time, after several decades of gradual decline, honeybee colonies in the United States underwent widespread, massive collapses.


Up to one-third have now vanished, troubling farmers who rely on bees to fertilize $15 billion worth of U.S. crops and citizens who simply like bees. Though colony collapse disorder likely has many causes — from mites to bacteria to fungus to the physiological stresses and epidemiological risks of industrial beekeeping — pesticides are prime suspects, and the EPA's leaked documents (.pdf) are troubling.

by Brendan Keim

ruby2sd4y

about 13 years ago

I'm gonna do the Mason Bee(s) thing this year. More should too. I reckon they should be promoted at the farmer's markets, garden centers, and the harvest/fall fests and such.

Herzog

about 12 years ago

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10921493-neonicotinoid-pesticides-tied-to-crashing-bee-populations-2-studies-find

Be bothered no more Sherman.

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