Guest guest Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 Here's a transcript of Bill Maher's comments on colony collapse and also some details on how organic bee keeping is faring vs " factory raised " ones. Domingo -- From Bill Maher: Here's a quote from Albert Einstein: " if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man. " Well, guess what? The bees are disappearing. In massive numbers. All around the world. And if you think I'm being alarmist and that, " Oh, they'll figure out some way to pollinate the plants... " No, they've tried. For a lot of what we eat, only bees work. And they're not working. They're gone. It's called Colony Collapse Disorder, when the hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, and all that's left are a few queens and some immature workers -- like when a party winds down at Elton John's house. Also, if your stinger stays up more than 48 hours, call your doctor. But I think we're the ones suffering from Colony Collapse Disorder. Because although nobody really knows for sure what's killing the bees, it's not al-Qaeda, and it's not God doing some of his Old Testament shtick, and it's not Winnie the Pooh. It's us. It could be from pesticides, or genetically modified food, or global warming, or the high-fructose corn syrup we started to feed them. Recently it was discovered that bees won't fly near cell phones -- the electromagnetic signals they emit might screw up the bees navigation system, knocking them out of the sky. So thanks guy in line at Starbucks, you just killed us. It's nature's way of saying, " Can you hear me now? " Last week I asked: If it solved global warming, would you give up the TV remote and go back to carting your fat ass over to the television set every time you wanted to change the channel. If that was the case in America, I think Americans would watch one channel forever. If it comes down to the cell phone vs. the bee, will we choose to literally blather ourselves to death? Will we continue to tell ourselves that we don't have to solve environmental problems -- we can just adapt: build sea walls instead of stopping the ice caps from melting. Don't save the creatures of the earth and oceans, just learn to eat the slime and jellyfish that nothing can kill, like Chinese restaurants are already doing. Maybe you don't need to talk on your cell phone all the time. Maybe you don't' need a bag when you buy a keychain. Americans throw out 100 billion plastic bags a year, and they all take a thousand years to decompose. Your children's children's children's children will never know you but they'll know you once bought batteries at the 99 cent store because the bag will still be caught in the tree. Except there won't be trees. Sunday is Earth Day. Please educate someone about the birds and the bees, because without bees, humans become the canary in the coal mine, and we make bad canaries because we're already such sheep. -- Bill Maher, host of HBO's " Real Time with Bill Maher " (Fridays at 11:00PM) Some valuable detail following up on the cell phone story >I'm an organic beekeeper. > >Two things here. One, we would not be so dependent on commercial >non-native factory farmed honey bees if we were not killing >off native pollinators. Organic agriculture does not use chemicals >or crops toxic to bees and, done properly, preserves wildlife >habitat in the vicinity, recognizing the intimate relationship >between cultivated fields and natural areas. > >Two, factory farmed honey bees are more susceptible to stress from >environmental sources than organic or feral honey bees. I know alot >of people think beekeeping is all natural but in commercial >operations the bees are treated just like livestock on factory farms. > > I'm on an organic beekeeping list list of about 1,000 people, > mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, > including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on > this list. The problem with the big commercial guys is that they > put pesticides in their hives to fumigate for varroa mites and they > feed antibiotics to the bees. They also haul the hives by truck > all over the place to make more money with pollination services > which stresses the colonies. > >Bees have been bred for the past 100 years to be much larger than >they would be if left to their own devices. If you find a feral >honeybee colony in a tree, for example, the cells they lay eggs in >are about 4.9 mm wide. This is the size they want to build, the natural size. > >The foundation wax that beekeepers buy have cells that are 5.4 mm >wide so eggs laid in these cells produce much bigger bees. It's the >same factory farm mentality we've used to produce other livestock - >bigger is better. But the bigger bees, for alot of easy to >understand reasons, do not fare as well as natural sized bees. It's >now possible to buy foundation with these smaller sized cells but >most beekeepers in Canada don't have a clue, or aren't willing to >put the effort into going organic this way. Certified organic >honey, as in the President's Choice brand, still allows chemicals to >be put in the hive. > >So the factory farm aspects of beekeeping, combined with all sorts >of negative environmental factors, puts enough stress on the >colonies that they are more susceptible to dying out. > >More info on this: > >Organic Beekeeper list >http://pets.Organicbeekeepers/ <http://pets.Organicbeekeepers/> <http://pets.Organicbeekeepers/ <http://pets.Organicbeekeepers/>> > >Michael Bush's site: >http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm <http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm> <http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm <http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm>> > >Also BeeSource: >http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby/index.htm <http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby/index.htm> <http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby/index.htm <http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby/index.htm>> > > >Sharon Labchuk >Earth Action > > >- >Please visit the Beyond Factory Farming Coalition's website at >www.beyondfactoryfarming.org >The Beyond Factory Farming Coalition is a national organization >promoting socially responsible livestock production in Canada. Our >vision is " Livestock production for health and social justice " . BFF >staff can be reached via info <info%40beyondfactoryfarming.org> <info%40beyondfactoryfarming.org> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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