Missing bees

Paul in Cannon Beach

This is kind of freaky. Bees are missing. Not just a few. Millions. Maybe billions. Nobody really knows why.

People do know one thing. Its hard to pollenate without bees. No bees, no pollenation, no plants, no fruit, no food....

Skeptical? Type "missing bees" in google.

LarryC

Thanks for the update, Chicken Little.

allsteaks

Two words: Al Gore. No, no I mean: global warming.

HRinGA

It's a sign. Repent now my brother while you still can! x:D

Paul in Cannon Beach

Hey, when you are all out of food, don't come knocking on my underground bunker.

Speaking of bunkers, one of my favorite Simpsons episodes was the one about the meteor that was headed to destroy Springfield. Only Ned Flanders was prepared. Its a classic with a couple moments that are actually quite touching.. for a cartoon.

My father in law is a farmer and he has several bee hives. No bees this year though. They are gone.

This is real. Be afraid.

ray a

That reminds me of a story from my past. When I was much younger and could actually still play basketball, I was shooting baskets out in my driveway. There was a small beehive up under the rafters in the garage and everytime I hit the backboard it would disturb the bees. Finally one of the bees got angry and flew after me. I ran around the back yard with it chasing me. I ran into the house and it followed me. I grabbed a magazine and swatted it against the wall as it dived for me and bounced it off the wall. True story.

allsteaks

Actually Paul is very correct and this has the potential to be a serious problem. But it's more fun to make jokes about it.
Like this bee shortage will spawn (?)a new cottage industry: artificial insemination of fruit trees and vegetables. This will of course create the need for new curriculi for universities, i.e., micro edaphology and pedology (dirt and what makes it do that).
Of course the first action that needs to take place immediately is declaring the honey bee an endangered species.

HRQ

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 05-03-07 AT 10:47AM (CST)[/font][br][br]How did you happen to come across this, Paul? Had an idle moment and thought "hmmm, seems like there are fewer bees lately, I think I'll do a little research..." ?

Just curious.

I think I'm going to google "Paul's obscure internet research."

Try not to read any anger or spite into that like with the Meathead comment. I'm just giving you crap. I'm actually a very nice person who occasionally gets snarky. x:D

Edit: So I just googled Missing Bees and got the NPR article. It never actually occurred to me that farmers need bees. Honestly. I know that sounds stupid. I just figured all that stuff was done by some kind of process.

ray a

I just did a quick search. There's an article on "All Things Considered" about missing bees and a Congressional Investigation. Considering the news source it has to be a liberal plot.

Paul in Cannon Beach

I have my sources. Personally I am quite the skeptic (except for ghosts and Bigfoot) so I checked it out myself.

There is this tendency to believe that everything will always be OK but if you know your history, that is not the case. Mass plagues, droughts, and starvation is more par for the course.

Our modern society has given us a false sense of security.

Of course, my hope is that somehow this does not turn out to be a serious problem. Whats interesting to me is the lack of coverage.

NaeNae55

I have seen it on the evening news at least twice in the last month or so, and today it was in the news item section of aol. The article there said this winter we lost 5 times as many bees as usual, and that the problem has reached 27 states. It also said that we do occassionally have massive bee wipeouts (had one in the 90's), but they usually know why. This is one time they are still scratching their heads. They have at least figured out that it is a virus or fungus, which means treatment will follow soon.

LarryC

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 05-04-07 AT 06:12AM (CST)[/font][br][br]It's been on the news and in our newspaper yesterday. It's in the section that ran stories about the bird flu and SARS pandemics.

Kidding aside, this development will bee interesting to watch and see what beecomes of it.

ray a

Larry! Beehave!

Paul in Cannon Beach

I can just see the Fox News alert now:

"BEE ware! Where are all the BEES? Don't get stung! Hear what all the BUZZ is about on O'Reilly Factor!"

Of course, I have to wonder about whether our society isnt doomed already.

Thread about missing bees with potentially catastrophic consequences: 13 posts


Thread about Sanjaya and American Idol: 60 posts

Tony Kessler

Speaking of news alerts, over the weekend I noticed that the promos for tonight's (5/7/07) CBS Nightly News promise a report on the missing bees. tk

Paul in Cannon Beach

Thanks for the heads up Tony. Could you watch the show and bring back a report?

I'll be busy stockpiling beans, water, and canned prunes.

Tony Kessler

I watched CBS' missing-bee report last night, the first installment in a new series that the network is calling "Saving the World." Hmmm. If the reporter's work is really going to save the world, maybe they should have aired the segment in the newscast's first 20 minutes. As for the content of the segment itself, I'll let you be the judge. Here is a link to a written recap:

[url]http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/07/eveningnews/main2771899.shtml[/url]

The network's marketing managed to create a fair amount of hype and buzz for this story. If you happened to see the report, too, do you think it lost some of its sting because of the "feature" presentation?

Earlier today, I realized that the missing bees may still be an important story. On the way to the office, I clicked on a radio sports-talk show, and the two cohosts were chatting about -- believe it or not -- the missing bees! If the problem has managed to find its way to their radar screen, we have reasons to be concerned. tk

Elizabetharess

Does anyone remember the plot of the XFiles movie about the bees? There was some corn field and all the bees were being gathered into some sort of warehouse???? Can't remember exactly.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Whats really scary is if this thing with the bees is true, the world will eventually be re-populated by paranoid people like me.

Not too mention the combination of canned beans and enclosed bunkers.

On a serious note, our government is now getting involved through a House hearing on the missing bees. You can see it here: [url]http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9213661[/url]

Well, now that are government is looking into it, I think we can all breathe alot more easily.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Over the weekend, there were several news stories about the missing bees. Now scientists have come up with a name for the phenomenon but I dont think they know why its happening.

California is starting to get really worried because their fruit industry is threatened.

I think the government is about to get involved so everything should be OK soon.