Are bees the canary in the coalmine ?

One of the most frightening quotes about the environment was made by Albert Einstein – “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years left”. Such a quote should help focus our activities and actions so as not to threaten nature on which we are so interdependent.

In recent times the death of bee colonies (a phenomena described as (CCD) Colony Collapse Disorder) has come to the fore as a major concern.

There are many theories as to why this is happening:

• The varoa mite and other parasites and viruses.
• Mobile phone signals scrambling the bees communication methods (they do a kind of dance to tell other bees where the food source is).
• The use of Genetically Modified crops.
• Use of pesticides in agriculture (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide_toxicity_to_bees).
• The reduction of bee biodiversity due to industrial bee farming activities. Almond growing in California in particular has been highlighted.
• A combination of all of the above.

I am currently reading a book called “A world without Bees” by Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum which investigates all of the above and goes into great detail to analyse the situation.

My gut instinct is that the use of pesticides (which are designed to destroy insects) is a major factor in the death of bees. At the very least pesticides as they are poisonous can be expected to weaken their immunity system.

Humans are failing to grasp the mental link that we are interdependent on a very large number of all inhabitants of the biosphere for our survival, not just the plants and animals we directly eat. Chemicals, biomagnify in the food chain, and the shorter the life cycle, the quicker intergenerationally they can magnify.

Click here for more olony Collapse Disorder links.