============= Austin; Curious, on your squash comment; how diversfied are you, not on your investments, but on flowering plants/trees which flower much of year. Acronymn hinted the ''created'' pattern is extremely diverse; not like the typical monocrop agribusiness/surburban yard, both maybe use plenty of pesticides???????????????
"Created" process...this of itself holds the truth in its entirety. Often I have addressed individuals who challenged my creative line of thinking in such a manner. What would you do if you removed the honey bee from the world's agri-system? Most didn't understand the question. And many haphazardly suggested it would be frivolous, and inconsequential, and irrelevant. Well we have come full-circle haven't we. Many may think that this a consequence of man's misuse of the earth resources, and I am certain we would agree that this is true in part. And that a possible solution is in the predicated science of man. This is where I disagree. Man's science appeases to his own self-induced grandizement, whereby he actually alienates himself from this "creative process" that has been alluded to. And in this, imho, is where we find our answer. In any creative process thereby exists the original Creator. And again one could ask what came first the chicken or the egg? And again herein lies the answer, in that it would be folly to isolate one from the other. And who came first man or woman? A single celled amoeba with perhaps some 52 chromosomes is the the bare minimum for life. And yet this minute organism is far more complex than all of man's wisdom combined. Mathematicians have calculated that a haphazard evolution of such a creature would be like a blind man trying to find a golden grain of sand among 1000 galaxies. I might be somewhat of a gambler..but I don't like those odds. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. And herein again lies your answer..." if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then shall I hear from heaven, and forgive their sins, and heal their land." And herein lies our real answer...quite simple really!
All we have to do is Genetically ReModify the modified genetics of the genetically modified genetics of modified genetics of the modified genetics....... The US is importing millions of dollars worth of Australian bees to pollinate its food crops. US bees are dying from antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, likely to be the result of widespread genetically modified (GM) crops. At the same time, the Australian Federal government is pushing for the adoption of GM crops here, and is reducing support for Australian beekeepers. http://www.santostrading.com.au/articles/bees.html Could genetically modified crops be killing bees? John McDonald, Special to The Chronicle Saturday, March 10, 2007 Unlike the more common problems, this new die-off has been virtually instantaneous throughout the country, not spreading at the slower pace of conventional classical disease. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/10/HOG5FOH9VQ1.DTL&feed=rss.homeandgarden
HEAR,HEAR!! Spot on Brother. Great thread AP and posts fellas. I believe the magnitude of this is Biblical and very may well be one of the the "Bowl Judgements" described in the Bible. It has begun.... Rennick ( exciled on the Isle of Patmos) out
The whole GMO trend is some really scary stuff. Noone even knows the true effect on consumption of GMO foods and we won't know for a couple generations. Lot of big money behind GMO, mainly Monsanto, Archer Daniels, Cargill. These guys don't give a crap about bees. If anything, it serves their purpose that the natural ecology is destroyed, since it then forces the farmers to rely on their patented GMO seed.
The earth (nature) always seeks a balance, when an imbalance starts and continues over a period of time and is not resolved, the imbalance is dealt with sometimes in the most efficient manner possible. Sometimes that simply means starting over.
I've also being following these news now for 2 months. This is scary, sounds like an apocalyptic harbinger. Scary also: ~2 months ago, thousands of birds fell right out of the sky in texas. Maybe, these events are somehow linked. Has anyone heard yet of a sound theory what causes this?
I heard or read that the possible cause could be because of some kind of ultraviolet or other sun ray that has changed that the bees use in order to see. It has changed to the point where bees can no longer see correctly so they can not find their way back to the hive and can not identify the colors of flowers correctly anymore. So apparently they are wandering around blind... It was also suggested that Global Warming might have something to do with it. Today while getting ready to mow the lawn, I and one of my sons watched a few bees flying around really fast like they were panicking. We had quite a few dandelions in the front yard and I did not see one bee land on them. I thought it was kind of weird...