Sunday, February 11, 2007

Bees or not bees? A serious question

No one is sure why, but honeybees in America are dying according to a story on Boston.com and that is terrible news. Of course, I will be quite angry when the price of honey skyrockets as a result, but there are other consequences if the little social buzzers meet their demise: Many plants -- including those that produce fruit and drugs -- need to be pollinated.

Maybe it's some side effect of global climate change or industrial pollution, or maybe it's a non-native mite or disease, but whatever the cause let's hope it doesn't wipe out all of the honeybees in the US. Not only will a catastrophe such as that cause a number of problems, but it could be a canary in our collective coal mine.

2 comments:

Jason said...

there was a big article on this in either National Geographic or Smithsonian (or like Sierra or something) a month or so ago.

Jim said...

As a prolific user of honey -- mostly in my several cups of tea a day -- I will be affected financially by an increase in the price of the sweet golden goodness.