In February I wrote about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which is the moniker used to describe the phenomenon of enormous amounts of bee colonies dying off. I speculated that it was likely due to run-of-the-mill inappropriate use of pesticides. Turns out I was probably half-right: I just discovered the most thorough article on the problem I’ve seen. It is full of references, facts, and seems to have the best answer yet as to what is going on: It is a complete ecosystem problem.

What it comes down to is that we humans seem to pathologically underestimate the consequences of our actions. Or rather, we’re far too willing to sacrifice long-term sustainability for short term gains. Here’s some of the major reasons why bees are dying off in considerable numbers:

1. Widespread, persistent, and irresponsible use of pesticides. The lesson we apparently aren’t learning from history is that when you make pesticides part of normal operations you will eventually rely on pesticides and they’ll become more & more useless over time to the point where you have super-resistant pests and no way to stop them. This can eventually lead to collapses of all sorts.
2. Widespread, persistent, and irresponsible use of antibiotics (really, just another kind of pesticide). Same problem as with pesticides: If you make them part of day-to-day operations in whatever you do, evolution pretty much guarantees that you’ll wind up with resistant bacteria.
3. Widespread, persistent, and irresponsible use of fungicides. Ditto!
4. Destruction of natural habitats. The disappearing wildflowers (which are linked with disappearing bees) are the result of human encroachment and actions (such as unsustainable beekeeping =). These provide natural variety in bee nutrition and without it you can wind up with deficiencies of diet.
5. Fostering monocultures. When you breed plants and animals from the same stock over and over again without allowing for natural selection and/or breeding with diversity in mind you end up with crops and animals that can be easily wiped out by a single problem (whether it be pests, bacteria, virii, or fungii). FYI: This is also true with computer operating systems and software… If your whole company is running Windows and a Windows virus comes along you can be out of action completely until you fix all the systems. Whereas; if you had a mix of Windows, Macs, and Linux systems you could continue operating with only a temporary reduction in productivity.

1. Over-feeding the bees with processed sweets instead of natural nectars. Many commercial beekeepers, in order to preserve their bees between trips to sites, feed their bees high fructose corn syrup. It plumps up the bees so that they’re nearly twice as large as organic bees and it doesn’t have as good nutritional content as a more natural diet of varying plant nectars.

   Does all of this sound familiar? Here’s some parallels in other aspects of our lives:

   • Over-use of pesticides on human food crops.
   • Over-use of antibiotics in medicine.
   • Irresponsible (and pointless) use of antibiotics in consumer soap and other mass-manufactured products.
   • Widespread use of high fructose corn syrup in human food.
   • Destruction of habitat causes water supply problems, pest problems, and food supply problems.

• Monocultures a risk to our food supply (FYI: click here to read about one of the worst monoculture disasters in human history).

  What will it take for us to realize what’s at stake?