OT - Bee problem getting noticed in DC

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Oh I don't know, none I guess. The honeybee discussion just seemed like it was going anywhere so I thought I'd ask about wasps v. honeybees.

The Green Hornet is the worse of all. It actually captures it's prey and throws them in jail. :)

Did you know hummingbirds pollinate also as do butterflys and some other animals/insects. I don't think the world will end with the honeybee mite problem do you?

Change the y to an i & add es! Butterflies.

and some other

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Yes, I think it could be a very large problem.

How many other pollinators are there compared w/honey bees?

Cathy

There are lots of honeybees, lots. Don't lose sleep over it.

Combining two OT topics... ;-)

Listening to "Prairie Home Companion"... a spring time poem contest; one person sent in:

"Spring has sprung The bees aren't swarming, I wonder if it's due To global warming."

Cathy

Cute. I wonder too.

Actually, I don't really. I just thought it was funny.

I think something else is at work, re: the sudden disappearance of so many bees, but I have no clue what.

Cathy

There's a mite that is attacking the honeybee.

Three weeks ago this was a topic on TOTN Science Friday, & as of then plenty of scientists were looking into it, considering all sorts of scenarios, but there was no break-though or consensus as to the cause. The mite problem was already known, & not considered to be the answer to the scope of the current problem.

Excerpt from overview of that program (

): "Plus, a look at honeybees. Recently, in more than 20 states, beekeepers have been opening their hives to find the bees gone. While bee populations in the U. S. have been suffering in recent years from a variety of threats, including tracheal and Varroa mites, this sudden disappearance of bees from hives across the country has caught many beekeepers off guard, with no clear explanation for the AWOL insects. And no honeybees means no pollinators, a huge problem for growers. We'll talk with bee experts about the problem.

Cathy

Yes, and the beekeepers of America were before one of the democrat commities last week asking for relief. I guess they're short of cash. It was on C-SPAN.

Call me cynical, but... Are you reducing this to a $ problem, rather than an environmental one?

Cathy

You're trying so hard to link anything with global warming. Including bees...OK...Don't lose sleep over it.

Huh?? I already stated that AFAIK/AC global warming has nothing to do with the bees deal.

Cathy

You said environmental = global warming in your mind. Don't deny it, we know better.

No, AFAIK, two *different* environmental problems. I don't know about the rest of the ng, but *you* don't know better in this case.

The bee problem could have huge $ ramifications - farther down the line (not the initial problem of the beekeepers' livelihoods), but I'm thinking more re: loss of pollination & the chain of problems (besides purely monetary) that would then create. So much of our food supply harkens back to honeybees.

Cathy

Nah....

A good capitalist will figure out a way to pollinate plants.

Hell we could round up all the illegal immigrants and give them paint brushes and send them flower to flower.....