State of the Earth: What Can We Learn From Bees

Building a sustainable society is the critical challenge of this century. Everything depends on it.

-- Sen. Gaylord Nelson, Founder, Earth Day

What if all government leaders were required to give a State of the Earth Address like Australia did in 2006?-- I wonder what they would say?

Living on a biosphere, we can not assume that our actions have no consequences and we must assume, often, there are unintended ones. A recent story about the disappearance of bees is a great example of how our actions may endanger our food supply.

According to the February 27, 2007 New York Times, "in 4 states throughout the country, US bees had been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only farmers' livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation's most profitable exports."... "Honeybees are flying off and disappearing in mystery that has flummoxed researchers and threatens production of numerous crops that rely on bee pollination; researchers call syndrome colony collapse disorder and say bees are presumably dying in fields from exhaustion or becoming disoriented and dying from cold; one study says that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in US, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts; investigators are exploring range of theories about disappearing bees, including viruses, fungus, poor bee nutrition, pesticides, bee stress; beekeepers earn much more renting their bees out to pollinate crops than in producing honey, and researchers are concerned that trucking colonies around country to pollinate crops could add to bees' stress and help spread viruses and mites of crops that rely on pollination." The article went on to mention a limited study which forwarded the idea that cellphones may be disorienting the bees.

4/27 Update: Another study suggests a "fungus killed bee colonies across Europe and Asia [and] may be to blame for the current collapse of bee colonies in the U.S. and Canada, researchers said. The sudden deaths of the buzzing insects, a condition called Colony Collapse Disorder, has disturbed beekeepers, scientists and farmers who depend on bees for pollination." The same report suggested that pesticides ans inadequate food resources may also contribute. More than a quarter of the country's 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping.

The "highly preliminary" results announced Wednesday showed evidence of the single-celled parasite called Nosema ceranae on a few hives taken from Merced County for testing, said Joe DeRisi, a biochemist at the University of California, San Francisco, who found the SARS virus in 2003.
DeRisi used a technique known as "shotgun sequencing," that allows rapid reading of a genetic code and then matches it to computerized libraries of known genes from thousands of germs.phenomenon is occurring.

Fact Monster reports, Bees are of inestimable value as agents of cross-pollination (see pollination), and many plants are entirely dependent on particular kinds of bees for their reproduction (such as red clover, which is pollinated by the bumblebee, and many orchids). In many cases the use of insecticides for agricultural pest control has had the unwelcome side effect of killing the bees necessary for maintaining the crop. Such environmental stresses plus several species of parasitic mites devastated honeybee populations in the United States beginning in the 1980s, making it necessary for farmers to rent bees from keepers in order to get their crops pollinated and greatly affecting the pollination of plants in the wild. Bee venom has been found to have medicinal properties.

On this Earth Day weekend, it is important to remember the need to balance our economic needs with the needs of a delicate planet. As Gaylord Nelson and others proposed, we need to forge a "sustainable society". As Nelson said, "Understanding that sustainability is the ultimate issue will bring America face to face with the political challenge of forging a sustainable society during the next few decades. It is a challenge America can meet if we have the leadership and political will to do so." He proposed the following:

Forging a Sustainable Society
Forging a sustainable society is our first and most important order of business. We have not yet begun a national discussion on what sustainability means and why it is important. That is a failure of past congresses and presidents. Here's what must happen to set our country on the path of sustainability:

- The President must begin a national dialogue on the issue of sustainability by beginning a tradition of a biennial "State of the Environment" address. This biennial message would be in addition to the traditional State of the Union address.

- The Congress must undertake a comprehensive series of educational hearings on the concept and significance of sustainability.

- The public must encourage serious Presidential and congressional attention to the issue of sustainability.

- The youth of America are also involved, making it clear to the President and Congress that sustainability is essential to the security of our nation.