Let's talk about bees

[PerishedFraud]

I like bees. They're (usually) friendly, they make honey and help the ecosystem. They're cute and fluffy and maintain these qualities up close - a rarity for insects. I'm also big on the whole teamwork thing they have going on.

 

Bees.

[Rhinestone Jedi]

They're also in terrible danger. People, careful not to fill your lawns with chemicals and herbicides. Bees need violets, honeysuckle, clover, even dandelion.  

[Chopkinsca]

I like them, as opposed to the [censored] yellow/black insects such as wasps and hornets.

 

GIFTBs anyone?

[Minion]

Depending on your climate, you can put out honey or sugar dissolved in water for the bees to eat before they go into hibernation once and for all, and in early spring when they start waking up but before the first flowers bloom. However, bees are curious, and if you place honey or sugar-water on your windowsill, it might be a good idea to close the window or you might find a small legion of bees exploring your house. Also, a saucer is preferable to a bowl since the bees will crowd it and eventually some of them will fall in and get honey all over themselves, which means they get stuck and will be unable to fly until they and their fellow bees lick them clean.

[Bender89]

Speaking of the bee death thing, I always thought that it coinciding with everyone getting a cell phone might of had something to do with it. But I don't know how insects would be effected by microwaves or high coverage of them. But chemicals make sense, dupont does not want anything to interfere with there business even though they make some really nasty stuff.  

[Losrandir]

We sure need bees. I hope they will survive and flourish.

[Vinlie]

Bees are cool and all until one of those guys decides to hitch a ride in your car.

[PerishedFraud]

Open your window. It will fly out.

[Vinlie]

http://theoatmeal.com/pl/minor_differences3/bee

[dave s]

I find the bee hysteria a bit annoying.

 

Yes, some species of bees are in danger. Managed honeybees used in farming are not in particular danger, their numbers aren't dwindling. Colony Collapse Disorder all but disappeared as a major threat in 2011, after a 5 year blip which wasn't really all that different than other blips in the bee historical record. There is no current threat to our ability to pollinate crops. Furthermore, if all the honeybees did disappear, it wouldn't be the end of humanity. It wouldn't be great. But there are other pollinators that could step in to fill the role. And our biggest food crops (Wheat, soy, corn) don't actually require pollination anyway. Almond farms would suffer the most, some fruits and berries would too.

 

Finally, this is my personal pet peeve, but I HATE when people misattribute quotes to Einstein. Einstein never said anything about bees going extinct.

[keira]

yo bees ❤️

 

real talk tho an alarming amount of our foods depend on pollination to, uh, work, and there's not a whole lot of "breeds" of bees going around much anymore? i believe it's the same problem as crop monocultures wherein, if we get some sort of hella scary varroa mite that's resistant to current treatments, or whatever sort of hellish bee disease, that's going to be a Big Problem.

 

like it's been awhile but iirc there's only like three or four "breeds" of honeybee (italian, caucasian, russian, african?), so if one or two of those get wiped out, a huge segment of our food supply is Boned. there's a reason diversity exists, and we've been systematically destroying it all across the bits of the biosphere we like to eat.