[ExI] US government sued over use of pesticides linked to bee harm

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of BillK
Subject: [ExI] US government sued over use of pesticides linked to bee harm

Beekeepers, conservation and food campaigners accuse Environmental Protection Agency of failing to protect the insects <http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/22/us-government-sued-pesticides-bee-harm>
...
----------- BillK

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Hi BillK, thanks.  I have been gathering data, but I didn't really know how applicable it is to this forum.  It isn't really a transhumanist issue in any way other than our human side likes to eat.

Just in the past few days, I can say with confidence that the local bee count is down by an estimated one and a half orders of magnitude, and possibly two orders.  My climbing honeysuckle vine in the back yard blossomed in the past four days.  Ordinarily the buzz from that is most delightful.  Now there is almost nothing.  Yesterday exactly one honeybee, and one Carpenter bee:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hamiltoninspections.com/HAMPICS/DISK%25201/carpenter-bee-resting-on-my-hand.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.hamiltoninspections.com/cb.htm&h=373&w=500&sz=83&tbnid=3_Z33x_QPAuK8M:&tbnh=98&tbnw=131&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcarpenter%2Bbee%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=carpenter+bee&usg=__Xpsb-PpwvTTkrRgCRuLkwwoXnXE=&docid=tcmxaUxiyjeD9M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=27BMUerhMo3PiwLx-YH4Cw&sqi=2&ved=0CE8Q9QEwAg&dur=1529

Today, no honeybees visible after ten full minutes of inspection, one Carpenter bee, two alkali bees and one (I think) Nomia melanderi, although if that last one really is a melanderi I can't explain why she's here, and I am not an expert in any case.  The minority bees which previously almost completely escaped detection, lost in the buzz, are now the majority.  I have seen more Carpenter bees than honeybees this year.

Here's an observation: last year was a really good bee season.  My two orange trees produced the biggest crop ever: the tree was so burdened with fruit I had to prop up the branches to prevent their failing under the load.  We gave away oranges like Santa Claus on meth, ate them like three pac-people, still have plenty of fruit left.  Next year we may get nada.

My best local data-tree blossomed two days ago and is reaching its peak.  I was just out there: exactly one honeybee.  In the case of that tree and my backyard vine on this nice sunny warm clear day, both trees should have over 100 honeybees.  So I would argue we are down two orders of magnitude locally.

We had a private bee watcher group, but the young lady who was doing the heavy lifting isn't with us now.  Her daughter was a second grader at that school in Newtown Connecticut where that maniac shot up that first grade classroom.  Queen Bee's daughter was not physically harmed, but mother and daughter were emotionally shattered, quite understandably.  In December she made a terse announcement to our group that she was changing her life, leaving everything for now, might be back at some time in the future, don't try to contact, etc.  So we must now treat those several years of data as lost.  So now I am hoping to rebuild a new bee watch group, set up some kind of public website and so forth, arranged for a domain, rainier66.com, but haven't made that ready yet.  Don't give up on me.

In the meantime, look around you please.  Is anyone else here missing their bees this spring?  I feel like Rachel Carson, only it's fifty years later, and it isn't the birds suddenly missing, it's the bees.

spike