[Environment] Co-op’s Plan Bee (where have all the bees gone, etc)

[poprock]

There’s the infamous quote attributed to Albert Einstein; “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination … no more men!” (Although that probably wasn’t actually said by Einstein … there’s no record of it published before 1994 and no paper trail connecting it to the man himself. Urban myth, I think … but a good soundbite anyway.)

Everyone knows about the collapse of the bee population, right? Colony Collapse Disorder, etc. Nobody knows for sure yet why bees are dying out in such huge numbers.

The Co-op are launching a UK-wide campaign to try and do something about it—targeting farmers, over whom the Co-op have a huge amount of control (the Co-op are technically the largest farming organisation in the UK, due to the sheer number of farms contracted to them).

Here’s their proposals:

1. The Co-operative Food will temporarily prohibit the use of neonicotinoid-based pesticides on own-brand fresh produce. These are Acetamiprid, Clothianidin, Dinotefuran, Fipronil, Imidacloprid, Nitenpyram, Thiacloprid and Thiamethoxam.

2. £150,000 will be made available to support research into the demise of the honeybee, with a particular focus on UK farming, pesticides and gene-diversity. The largest ever private contribution to bee research in the UK.

3. Over three years, The Co-operative Farms will trial a new wildflower seed mix that will be planted alongside crops on its farms across the UK. The Co-operative Farms is the UK's largest farmer with more than 25,000 hectares of land under management.

4. Co-operative Farms will invite beekeepers to establish hives on all Co-operative Farms in the UK.

5. The Co-operative will engage its three million members in a campaign to protect and nurture the bee population in the UK, with advice and tips featuring on its website.

6. Members will be invited to attend one of forty screenings of a special preview from a forthcoming film that addresses the decline of the worldwide bee population and the significance of the bee in food production. In addition, The Co-operative has also commissioned a new bespoke documentary on the decline of the bee population in the UK.

7. The Co-operative will partner with RSPB's "Homes for Wildlife" Team and empower members to garden in ways that are honeybee-friendly.

8. An initial 20,000 packets of wildflower seed mix will be made available to members free of charge.

9. Bee boxes are being sourced and made available to Co-operative members at discounted prices.

10. The Co-operative will support its members and colleagues to find out more about amateur beekeeping and will encourage links between local beekeepers and members.

And here’s a link to their campaign if you want to read more.

[Jaemi]

What's that statistic that's banded around?
There would be a space of 10 years between bees disappearing and the extinction of human life?
Something like that.

Maybe there are just more mice in the world?

[poprock]

Personally, from what I’ve read on the subject over the past few years, I think it’s probably stress that’s killing the bees. The cause of that stress is what I still have no clue about. It could be physiological, environmental, or whatever. Probably a combination of factors, making it tricky to pin down.

[wee scary burd]

What the hell have bloody bees got to be stressed about?!

[Westy]

Are these the good British Bee's or the imported from Slovenia, Italian Bee's?

Clearly been watching Harry Hill last night.

[Jaemi]

Originally Posted by wee scary burd

What the hell have bloody bees got to be stressed about?!

Credit crunch.
Nobody's buying honey.

[Zippy]

After watching The Happening I hope bees die out and kill us all.

[Jaemi]

After watching The Happening I hope M.Night Shyamalan dies out.

[Bobzilla]

They've been trying to get this on the go for a while now.

One of the reasons they give away all the wild flower seed at the big party thingie in Kelvingrove park was to encourage bees. I think we ended up with about 7-8 packets planted around our garden last year.

My uncle used to be a beekeeper and said that whilst they are as easy as hell to keep and look after very few farmers wanted them on thier land. He really struggled to find somewhere to keep his hives over the years and eventually gave up after the only farmer that would let him decided to stop.

Add to that you very rarely find a bee or wasp nest in urban areas now. As soon as they are found the exterminators get called in.

[Jaemi]

If they were more friendly...

[poprock]

Farmers in many parts of the world are having to ship bees in by truck when they require natural pollination on their land. There are agencies you can phone up and hire bee colonies from, for fuck’s sake. Thing is, they don’t take well to travelling like that and only survive a couple of bookings.

[Zippy]

Two bee keepers are stood talking about their swarms. The first bee keeper asked the second;
"How many bees you got?"

"12000" he replies

"And how many hives you got them in?"
so the bee keeper says "6"

"Wow, thats spacy for them" says the first bee keeper. "I got a million bees!"

"A million bees?? Thats a lot of bees" replies the second bee keeper. "How many hives you got them in?"

"Just one" states the first bee keeper

"You have a million bees in one hive??" asked the second bee keeper "Thats a bit cramped isn’t it?"

"Ah fuck em, they’re only bees"

[sylvianorth]

Originally Posted by Zippy

After watching The Happening I hope bees die out and kill us all.

Lots of running away from the wind etc.

I thought the original line from the thread was misquoted, no?

EDIT: You already mentioned that, sorry!

[AWESOMEUS MAXIMUS]

Who cares? Bee's are shit, although I'd prefer it if Wasps were dying out, from a personal point of view.

[crazydiamond85]

I hate both bees and wasps