Earth In Danger: Honey Bees Disappearing

[dgridley]

Forget life extinction disasters caused by an errant asteroid.. honey bees are disappearing at an unprecedented rate that threatens the very existence of ALL life on Earth!

RIGHT, AND WHAT HAPPENS IF ALL THE HONEY BEES DISAPPEAR?

First of all, a third of the food supply in the United States – and actually the world – a third of the food supply is directly related to the honey bee: fruits, vegetables, nuts, just a lot\ of stuff that we eat, that we’re accustomed to have every day, the honey bee is directly responsible for it. And then, there is probably another 30% of what we consume that honey bees are indirectly responsible for. Take the milk we drink. The cows have to have hay. They’ve got to eat clover and alfalfa to produce milk. And if you go back and listen to what (Albert) Einstein told us – he said if the honey bees disappeared off the face of the Earth, within four years, all life would be gone. Even the wildlife depends on plants pollinated by the honey bees for berries and so on. So, it’s not just humans not being able to get apples and carrots. We’re talking about a real big, serious problem!

http://www.earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1214&category=Environment

 

[Corky]

I can't help but to laugh, but at the same time, I have to look at this seriously.

Pretty crazy, how it's a third of the food supply in the US! Wow

 

[dgridley]

It's a third of the food world-wide... this problem will affect everyone.

I've actually mentioned this to people in the past: not seeing any bees around. When I was a kid, the clover in the lawns would be covered with them. I don't think I saw more than 3 or 4 bees all last summer.

I can't help but to laugh, but at the same time, I have to look at this seriously.

Pretty crazy, how it's a third of the food supply in the US! Wow

 

[dgridley]

Hehe.. I'm allergic to bee stings, not fun!

You can have all our bees. We always have a ton each summer, many of them all over the bushes. It's really not good when you get attacked by them.

By the way, they have been talking about this for a long time now:

http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/bee_shortage_050128.html

 

[000]

Interesting, although I've actually already heard about this. We definitely haven't been seeing near as many honey bees around my house as we used to.

 

[faisj]

Is there anything we could do about it?