Humanity needs a righteous kick in the ass. We are so arrogant when it comes to our survival, we think technology will cure all ills and fix anything without realizing how much we still rely on nature and all that it gives us.

That last sentence made me laugh. My roommate still drives his Hummer, for fuck's sake. Nobody wants to give up anything. Just ask Jimmy Carter what happened during the 70s energy crisis when he said people should turn down the heater and wear a sweater. All he received was a big middle finger from America, which turned around and voted in Ronald Reagan.

It's a virus. They're pretty sure about it at this point. Unfortunate for the bees, but it is nature that is killing them off. Not us. The virus is BTW, not infectious to humans so we at least don't need to fear any sort of outbreak outside of bees. Honestly, when they were trying to guess about the cause, and people somehow came up with cell phones, great bouts of laughter could be heard in most major biological research labs. We literally lolled. Ironically, me and my co-workers immediately said "bet you a fiver, it's a virus." Someone owes me $5.

People like to blame humanity for a lot of nature's ails, but there are a million ways for nature to kick its own ass.
Viruses are a biggy. Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Forest Fires from lightnight, comets, etc. I think humanity has an inflated opinion of how important we are in all of nature.

Doctor Who has another explanation

Some folks dig turtles, bees bees th' bomb, heaal'yeah...they buzz, n' chill, make food, have sex, and otherwise, like amphibians and fishes, are the barometer for why we fucked up on planet E thus far in that areeeena.....

Indication to dumbass motherfuckers, that there's more important stuff than mineral water and Dolce and Gabbana night robes, (which touch and feel that shit in comfoortable excess fluids, with pussy all up in yer face, is hard ta' beat)..!, you'd be all pissed the fuck off just as Mr. Bee is.......Room to buzz on the pollen, baby.....

http://www.videosift.com/video/60-Minutes-on-the-missing-bees
http://www.videosift.com/video/Flower-pollinaton-endangered-as-bee-populations-decrease
http://www.videosift.com/video/An-Unfinished-Story-Colony-Collapse-Disorder

>> ^Doc_M:
People like to blame humanity for a lot of nature's ails, but there are a million ways for nature to kick its own ass.
Viruses are a biggy. Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Forest Fires from lightnight, comets, etc. I think humanity has an inflated opinion of how important we are in all of nature.


That kind of attitude is the same reason most of the world is still sitting on it's hands while huge swathes of biospheres are disappearing.

Am fairly convinced that I have seen things in the wild I know my grand children will not.

>> ^Farhad2000:
>> ^Doc_M:
People like to blame humanity for a lot of nature's ails, but there are a million ways for nature to kick its own ass.
Viruses are a biggy. Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Forest Fires from lightnight, comets, etc. I think humanity has an inflated opinion of how important we are in all of nature.

That kind of attitude is the same reason most of the world is still sitting on it's hands while huge swathes of biospheres are disappearing.
Am fairly convinced that I have seen things in the wild I know my grand children will not.


Recognition of relative insubstantiality is no excuse for abuse. We are still the stewards of the Earth. No argument there. I just see people panic and overestimate their effect and their ability to control an eco- and geological system as complicated and enormous as this planet. Smells a bit too much like fear-politics to me.

As for the possibility of overpopulation? America fortunately has a pretty low concentration of people in general. Canada even more so. And we're not really growing that fast, numbers-wise. China's laws will likely decrease its crowding eventually. Japan is relatively stagnant, as is western Europe. My population concerns would have to focus on India, Africa, and perhaps Arab and Persian nations. Not sure about those last two... or Russia. Would have to research it. Perhaps rising energy costs will encourage urbanization and less sprawl. Building projects in a good number of global cities is booming at the moment. See Dubai, Chicago, NYC... and quite a number of Arab/Persian cities or so I'm told. It's harder to get information for those in English.

BTW, the suspect honeybee virus is called Israel Acute Paralysis Virus. "IAPV was first described in 2004 in Israel (21), where infected bees presented with shivering wings, progressed to paralysis, and then died outside the hive." There are several pockets of it in America, Canada, France, and Israel.
http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/content/full/82/13/6209?view=long&pmid=18434396

Soooo, you can feel ok about your Cell phone for now. Save that fear at least for cancer. lol.

One problem with the EMF theory is that cell towers have been around for how long? And the recent proliferation is mostly along freeways and big cities. So the recent rapid decline of bee populations could only be related to cell phones if it is based upon the switch to GSM and digital cell phone networks that require more towers that are placed at closer intervals, but ironically lower power. But there could be some truth to 1.8/1.9GHz cell phone towers being a problem, but the 900MHz EMF polution has been around for awhile (two decades?).

I personally think you might be able to blame Nextel as my hunch is their bands would be more harmful to bees.

Also the bee colony problem happens in rural places, but that could be an argument for why high power cell towers are used. What makes the whole argument stupid is that TV broadcasts are much stronger, so until I see a study claiming a specific EM frequency that is a problem, then I'll assume virus, mite, etc. (Now birds and butterflies on the other hand...)

Listen, I probably wasn't playing close enough attention but I'm pretty sure The Happening explained that it's the trees.