Episode-209- Get The Word Out About A World Without Bees

This episode was intended be a review of A World Without Bees but I left my notes elsewhere. So before that one I present A Fruitless Fall  by Rowan Jacobson, which is a play on words much like Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in 1962.   Fruitless Fall is no less foreboding in its depiction of a Fall without the buzz of the honey bee.

But first a little more on the plight of the honey bee and its continued presence in the media as a threatened species and one whose extinction threatens us. As you follow along with my beekeeping experiences you will know all of the maladies and blessings of the honey bee. It’s a complex world for a not so complex a creature. Yet this creature has existed long before even the ancestors of humans started to take shape. The bee has adapted to and survived changes in and on the earth over the course of 100 Million years. Civilization’s run so far is just about 5,000 years give or take a few thousand depending on your definition of civilization.  Thus, only the extremely arrogant could ever possibly hope to think they know what will last and what won’t.

Based on past performance the honey bee in particular is or was poised to outlast civilization but past performance is no indicator of future growth. It turns out that 21st Century industrialized everything has pushed the limit of the honey bee and thousands of other species of plant pollinators to a precipitous edge. Amazing isn’t it? I didn’t want to start beekeeping after I read about all the challenges but once I could start I did and I want to continue because I know it is the right thing to do. Not for the honey although that is the greatest food I have ever had. It’s more for the future itself and if we can make a go at living in a more communal state with nature as I try to do in suburban America then maybe everything doesn’t have to turn to dust.

To emphasize that point I got my new Time magazine in the mail today

Time cover Beeless World
Time cover Bee-less World

and that was enough to get me going on this episode. So as I prepare for a Frutiless Fall review Watch the video here from Time and get ready to get the word out about a world without bees. 

Resources

All Good Honey Bee Resources

Song of the Day – Allman Brother Band – Jessica – Live Video from 1971  –  And still they PLAY!!!

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