Squandering our Wealth? It appears so....listen to the bees!
Most of us who are thinking about sustainability are aware that our civilization is living beyond the planet's means to support us. See my earlier blog entry for details. Furthermore, the systems and institutions operating our civilization and our business are borne out of a thinking structure which does not consider the needs of Nature. We are only considering short-term human needs while overlooking both the web of life and the simple fact that we have myriad of plants and animals as our bunkmates on this "spaceship Earth" to use a Bucky Fuller phrase.
I am particularly concerned about a recent news story which is evidence of the aforementioned regarding the rapid drop in bee population. See the article below.
If we humans don't heed the call of such "canaries in the coal mine" then the species extinctions can be drastic, and rapid. With catastophic effects on plant, animal and human well being.
Here's the article I mentioned:
Are GM Crops Killing Bees?
A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous.
Colorado beekeepers stung by mysteriously vanishing colonies.
Like other Colorado beekeepers, Jeff Theobald knows that between 2 percent and 10 percent of his bees typically won't survive winter, but this year, the loss rate is 40 percent and rising as entire colonies vanish without a trace.
"It's just bizarre," said Theobald, who runs Grand Mesa Honey Farm in Delta. "I've had hives that had dead bees in them - 4,000 to 5,000 dead bees - and hives that were completely empty. The bees were just gone."
Regional disasters have afflicted beekeepers in the past, but baffled entomologists and agricultural experts call this the first national crisis, with potentially grave consequences. Approximately $14.6 billion worth of U.S. nut, fruit and vegetable crops depend on bee pollination.