See this ‘recommended diary’: This is the most important underreported story (w/poll).
[Colony collapse disorder] needs to get immediate attention, and it should get that attention ahead of Iraq, global warming and every other issue, because if the bees die off, we won’t be far behind.
The diary provides a nice round-up of article links (mostly the second-round of local coverage of the problem). I report this in a similar vein to Sports Illustrated covering global warming.
DailyKos is a political blog. There is some environmental coverage from time to time (especially global warming). But 90 percent of it is inside the Beltway and local netroots political organizing stuff. To make the recommended diary list requires the votes of your fellow readers at the site.
Bottomline is: At least among lefty bloggers, this is an issue that has some staying power — even in the face of all the other issues we face.
I was speaking with someone on Monday (here=South Carolina coast) who has kept several bee colonies/hives for years – and for the past several years, he has observed almost complete die-off of his bees. He contacted Clemson Ag extension agents about it – and it’s a common report from bee keepers. The ’cause’ seems to be unknown (at least locally) – but I’ll doublecheck with him tomorrow. Anyone remotely involved with the natural world would understand the seriousness of this (at least one would hope).
This is serious but some research has to be done. GM crops scare the hell out of me and are an obvious fall guy but Illinois has many fields growing and we are not one of the states listed with heavy colony failure. All the hives I have contact with are healthy but not commercial.
Since west nile disease went through here killing numerous birds and a few people the mosquito spraying has resumed with a vengence.
I have been watching the serious decline in pollinators of all sorts for many years now. It is strange that the honey bee gets such reaction.
Pam: I forgot to link to previous coverage of this, primarily recent NY Times article. Link to that article is in this post: http://www.remarc.com/craig/?p=60
Craig, you mention using wasteland for pollinator plants. I read an interesting article awhile back talking about using the land under power lines. It said that a semi shrubby habitat seemed to work best.
Keeping belts of woodedge type plantings and fence rows seem to help. Have you read Enhancing Beneficial Insects with Native Plants at Michigan state?
http://www.ipm.msu.edu/plants/home.htm
If you don’t mind here is another link with ideas for creating habitat for pollinator insects using Agriculture,Gardening,Golf Courses and Parks from The Xerces Society.
http://www.xerces.org/Pollinator_Insect_Conservation/xerces_publications.htm
Just a relevant link that I ran across today, kind of interesting:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070409214541.htm