Ohmygod the bees

"For many entomologists, the bee crisis is a wake-up call. By relying on a single species for pollination, US agriculture has put itself in a precarious position, they say. A resilient agricultural system requires diverse pollinators. This speaks to a larger conservation issue. Some evidence indicates a decline in the estimated 4,500 potential alternate pollinators – native species of butterflies, wasps. and other bees. The blame for that sits squarely on human activity – habitat loss, pesticide use, and imported disease – but much of this could be offset by different land-use practices." -- Moises Velasquez-Manoff Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

It is very frightening that the bees have disappeared. I hate to say something this dire, but this could be a harbinger of real environmental collapse. Let’s hope it’s not. Let’s hope it’s a wake-up call. Global warming isn’t the only proof that “the environmentalists,” those demonized liberal tree-hugging hippie freaks, have simply been telling the truth all these many years:

Nothing can be abused indefinitely and survive. Not even this Earth.

And by “survive” I mean survive intact; a burned out and uninhabitable shell does not count.

Haven’t heard about the bees? Look here:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0404/p13s01-sten.html

And here:
http://www.glrc.org/story.php3?story_id=3366

Or better yet, just google “disappearing bees.”

How many years have I been preaching the idiocy of widespread pesticide use? The risks of monoculture? The importance of biodiversity? At least 20?

And how many times have I tried to explain that bees and wasps and other creatures are necessary for human survival, in response to some friend or acquaintance’s assertion that he or she “hated” bugs and didn’t see the use of them, so what was the harm of killing them off. And yet I see people spraying Raid in their kitchens, putting Roundup in their gardens, thinking that because it doesn’t contain DDT it’s safe! Even grown hippies do this! People who should know better. It defies logic. Really.

Forgetting the amazement I always feel when I run into otherwise educated persons who are nonetheless clueless about the crazy spectrum of deep and lasting harm -- from cancers to ecosystem damage -- that pesticides cause… Well, never mind that. I can’t possibly forget about that. I really, truly do not understand how it is that people cannot see that killing off the native bugs will ruin everything. That the balance of life is delicate. That what’s poison to bugs is poison to us. And if it’s not a pesticide phenom, I guarantee you it’s related, some imbalance, so moving ahead of a another inspect or fungus or something because we’ve killed down it’s predator or the winters aren’t cold enough to kill off something.

The evidence is everywhere to be had. This discussion has been going on since Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring 45 years ago. Studies are released continually on the matter. Perhaps the ignorance it’s partly due, as with the global warming issue, to business and its government allies efforts to place doubt in the public mind. But even this is nuts, because if we kill the ecosystem and can’t farm then how are those who make their living off agriculture going to keep turning a buck?

And, ya, like, without pollinators there aren’t crops, you know?

My God. The bees? The bees are disappearing?

Harbingers: Little Blossoms of News

Newsiness.

Bird Report: The dove nesting in my dining room window now has one chick, that I can see. There may be more under her.

Garden Report: Peas! The peas are up in my garden! So is the spinach and rainbow chard, but the peas are cutest. And the hardest to get fresh (I read somewhere that if you don’t cook fresh peas within 24 hours of picking they’ll get starchy and lose their sweetness). Something has eaten all of the one little collard plant that lives on the southeast corner of the plot, but has not touched any of the other collards. Now there’s a low IQ bunny or caterpillar. Or a considerate one?

Flower Report: Lilacs! Some on my desk at work, some on the dining room table at home.

Game Report: Baseball, opening day! My first ever. Metal Ox’s first ever. (I just realized, this means we did get to lose our virginity together-- in a sense -- after all.) Metal Ox was so sweet. He told me about a couple he saw on TV who were going to their 50th (I may have the number wrong) opening day together, and how one day maybe we could say the same thing. And he bought each of us opening day banners and opening day balls. And, God bless his little heart, he bought me one of those crazily expensive Cardinals scorebooks! It doesn’t even matter to me that we lost the game to the Mets 'cause it was all so fun and sweet. And tonight – it’s World Series ring giveaway. Now there’s a (potential) once-in-a-lifetime thingy.

Meeting the Parents Report: It’s always a trip to meet a friend’s parental unit(s). On Friday The Princess (I’m back to calling you The P, my dear, because what with the M.H. Duchess’ picture living here now, to call you by The D might get confusing) brought her Mère to see the Pre-Raphaelites with us, then on to dinner. Delightful! We had a lovely time. And she even had something sensible to say about my soufflé project: Clean your oven.

And Now for The Bad News Report: Scorpio I is having the ocular histoplasmosis symptoms again. He sees the retina doc today. I can tell he is quite disturbed by this development. We were all hoping that the Avastin treatment had taken care of it once and for all. The implications of this reoccurrence are rather far-reaching. So, please, if you can, help him out with your positive thoughts and prayers for the health of his eye.