I'm a bit worried about the bees. Apparently, all over America, honeybees have been going for a bit of a jaunt about the countryside and then never returning home. One poor beekeeper estimates that half of his 100 million bees are missing. Imagine that!! 50 million bees! That's a lot of bees to count. Must have taken him quite some time. Perhaps half of the bees thought "Stuff this for a game of monkeys, life's too short. We'll be little old women-bees by the time he's finished and then we'll all die of starvation! I'm off out to get me some pollen."So that's one theory. But other theories are far more worrying. They range from the effects of pesticides to bee-stress caused by beekeepers' tendency to roam around the country with their hives stashed in the back of a lorry. I can relate to commuter stress. The buses and traffic near where I work have been nothing short of shocking lately. My usual bus is now approximately 20 minutes late every day, sometimes more, which wouldn't be too bad if they ran more than once an hour. I've missed a few gym classes due to the bus being trapped in the car park for 20 minutes because all the damn students drive to uni. It wasn't like that in my day. There have been a few angry emails, I can tell you. I just hope I don't go the way of the bees and disappear - although some days I do feel like not bothering to even try to get to work. So perhaps the bees just got sick of those long boring drives in the back of a lorry and decided on a sea-change. Perhaps at the first chance, they escaped to a nice sleepy town for a cruisey life. Stuff the honey, they're choosing lifestyle.
Strangely, no one seems to be considering climate change as a factor. Perhaps that's because the beekeepers are able to move their bees to more appropriate climes. It must be the only thing in the news at the moment that isn't being blamed on climate change.
But what's most concerning is the impact this decline in honeybees is having on crops, in particular California almonds. I don't even want to entertain the idea of a world without almonds and my wallet can't cope with an increase in price. Not to mention the thought of no honey, both staple ingredients in my morning muesli.
For the full story see http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27bees.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&hp
