http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_re_us/disappearing_bees
What does this mean? How would a shaman help? Read the article link (or text only below), and ask yourself, what would the shaman of the tribe be called to do?
By JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO - A survey of bee health released Tuesday revealed a grim picture, with 36.1 percent of the nation's commercially managed hives lost since last year.
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Last year's survey commissioned by the Apiary Inspectors of America found losses of about 32 percent.
As beekeepers travel with their hives this spring to pollinate crops around the country, it's clear the insects are buckling under the weight of new diseases, pesticide drift and old enemies like the parasitic varroa mite, said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, president of the group.
This is the second year the association has measured colony deaths across the country. This means there aren't enough numbers to show a trend, but clearly bees are dying at unsustainable levels and the situation is not improving, said vanEngelsdorp, also a bee expert with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
"For two years in a row, we've sustained a substantial loss," he said. "That's an astonishing number. Imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm."
The survey included 327 operators who account for 19 percent of the country's approximately 2.44 million commercially managed bee hives. The data is being prepared for submission to a journal.
About 29 percent of the deaths were due to Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious disease that causes adult bees to abandon their hives. Beekeepers who saw CCD in their hives were much more likely to have major losses than those who didn't.
"What's frightening about CCD is that it's not predictable or understood," vanEngelsdorp said.
On Tuesday, Pennsylvania's Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff announced that the state would pour an additional $20,400 into research at Pennsylvania State University looking for the causes of CCD. This raises emergency funds dedicated to investigating the disease to $86,000.
The issue also has attracted federal grants and funding from companies that depend on honey bees, including ice-cream maker Haagen-Dazs.
Because the berries, fruits and nuts that give about 28 of Haagen-Daazs' varieties flavor depend on honey bees for pollination, the company is donating up to $250,000 to CCD and sustainable pollination research at Penn State and the University of California, Davis.
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3 comments:
Another thought on this... a new friend of mine is a bee keeper. This year, she lost her bees to a sudden change in weather--the bees were inches from the honey when they got cold, became still, and so could not reach the honey. They starved. If the animals before the Tsunami knew it was coming, and they did, then what do we want to know about? I feel the bees are an indication that the "sweetness" of life must be honored, revered, brought back to life, animated, enjoyed...all that. My friend, a shaman who was in daily contact with the queen bees, gave me a jar of their honey, created before they died. I will offer this honey as a healing tool, upon the forehead and lips, wrists and ankles, to bring in the sweetness.
Bringing back the sweetness in life is definitely something that I am working on as you know! Honey seems to be coming up for me quite a bit in my journeys as an important element to work with. As Shaman's, perhaps we can connect with the essence of the bees and try to understand what is creating the imbalance and try to assist by harnessing energies that would contribute toward a shift, if that is what is necessary. Perhaps even do a healing on the bees?
I myself only learned last year how important the bees are to our food sources. Which brings me to connection, with the speed of technology we as a society seem more fragmented. Our speech is changing as well do to short form writing in text messages. At the beginning of the industrial revolution we had 6 hour workdays, people had time to tend to their gardens and be with their families. We work more hours, yet we seem to not be able to get things done. The common denominator I hear from people is I'm so tired, or I do not have time.
It is interesting to note that the bees died starving so close to their food. It is such a mirror for us in our world. We strip our food of nutrients, eat chemicals, our young girls and now boys starve themselves to look like a model. We have an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, Louise Hay writes in her book "You Can Heal Your LIfe" that diabetes represents: Longing for what might have been. A great need to control. Deep sorrow. No sweetness left.
So where is our joy?
The shaman looks at everything as a symbol and would be able to see a parallel going on with what the bees are showing us.
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