Greetings and Salutations…
Just ran across this interesting article on Slashdot.org discussing another possible cause of the CCD and the general drop in bee populations around the world. The Slashdot.org article is interesting, as are the comments (although one does have to skip past a bunch of nonsense to get to some good thoughts). It is also QUITE worthwhile to follow the link over to the original article that spawned the Slashdot.org listing. It has some quite interesting data in it and quite a variety of comments, both pro and con, attached to it. Alas, these stories are annoying on a couple of levels. The original article shows us not only how venal companies will look at short term profits, ignoring any possible long-term effects, but also how easy it is to manipulate the regulatory agencies that are supposed to be keeping this sort of thing from happening. Not a good thing, but, what can we do about it?
How about this? If this story is important to you, either as a beekeeper, or a person who thinks that $5/each for bad watermelons at the grocery store so some company president can get that multi-million dollar salary, then, next time your representative comes up for re-election, contact them about this issue. Also contact their opponent(s). Look at the response you get from them and vote FOR the one who promises to change the way things work in a way you like. Then, keep an eye on them, and at the NEXT election, if your representative has not followed through, then let them know with a polite letter to their office that they have lost your support, and why they have lost that support, then vote for one of their opponents. If we do this enough, we will end up with a government that actually respects the will of the people, and, hopefully, will work to better America. One of the major reasons society has ended up where it is at is because, for decades, we have been returning 95% or more of the seated representatives to their office, no matter WHAT their performance.
Beyond that, as beekeepers, we need to become somewhat more proactive, making an effort to educate the local farmers about the dangers of some of the chemicals they spread about with abandon, and, offering them alternative chemistry or methods that will be less toxic to the environment.