tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post8698044570621057299..comments2024-03-24T19:55:32.537-05:00Comments on The View from This Seat: The Plight of the BumblebeeLKSeathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-15210529955530340232014-07-28T17:30:32.653-05:002014-07-28T17:30:32.653-05:00Here is the link to an article Dwight sent about h...Here is the link to an article Dwight sent about his beekeeping activity in Chile: http://www.internationalministries.org/read/47421-something-sweeter-than-honey.LKSeathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-52151204476779138992014-07-22T06:19:39.133-05:002014-07-22T06:19:39.133-05:00I am regularly amazed at Craig Dempsey's insig...I am regularly amazed at Craig Dempsey's insights. For a number of years my grandfather raised several colonies of honeybees within the city limits of his town. I was never fond of them as I was stung several times. (He didn't seem to mind the stings.) As Dave Goulson points out, bees can be reintroduced once the underlying issue is resolved. (The European honey bee was not indigenous to the Americas.) Despite the good the major ag support corporations have made to feeding the world, their underlying laissez faire model of profits has not been very altruist for the big picture of agriculture, or of their neighbors. The high court and DC politicians are just as guilty of these outcomes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-54361750966021251722014-07-21T12:04:36.109-05:002014-07-21T12:04:36.109-05:00One other accomplishment of bumblebees was keeping...One other accomplishment of bumblebees was keeping aviation engineers humble for decades. As aviation engineering developed in the 20th century, the equations used to model the flight of airplanes were tried on various natural fliers. When they got to the bumblebees, they discovered they could not fly! This created something of an embarrassment for the engineers, since they were using the same equations on the bumblebees that were used on the airplanes.<br /><br />Well, bumblebees are not the most graceful of fliers, so they obviously were just barely doing it. Sort of like the way many of us just get through our lives. It turned out that the bumblebees had a secret weapon that was keeping them afloat. Their fuzz was not just for decoration. High speed photography showed that the fuzz was actually rhythmically used to assist the wings, and that little bit of extra lift was what was needed to explain their very obvious ability to fly. There might be a metaphor in there somewhere!<br /><br />It is tragic that such a beautiful piece of creation is threatened by human greed. That it and other pollinators are threatened by human actions speaks not just to greed, but also to downright stupidity. In Aesop's Fables there is the story of the killing of the goose that laid the golden eggs. Well, here we go again!Craig Dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00033176451913108084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-465619472423863982014-07-21T10:21:09.762-05:002014-07-21T10:21:09.762-05:00Dwight Bolick, a student of mine at William Jewell...Dwight Bolick, a student of mine at William Jewell College in 1976-77 , sent the following comments:<br /><br />"I just read with complete agreement your commentary on the crisis for bees. I have been doing beekeeping for nine years as part of our work as American Baptist missionaries in Chile. . . . . Thanks for commenting on the problem, which is a grave one, and the Monsanto's of the world have so much power to harm with impunity."LKSeathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-85204370346116629092014-07-21T09:27:35.122-05:002014-07-21T09:27:35.122-05:00Local Thinking Friend Buzz Taylor wrote this morni...Local Thinking Friend Buzz Taylor wrote this morning, introducing "A Sting in the Tail" (2013) by Dave Goulson.<br /><br />Here is an editorial review of that book:<br /><br />"Although the disturbing recent spread of bee colony collapse disorder has prompted media outlets to take a closer look at these humble, honey-gathering insects, for Goulson, the study of bees has been a lifelong passion.<br /><br />"As he recounts in this absorbing and informative hybrid between guidebook and memoir, Goulson fell in love with the buzzing creatures as a young nature buff growing up in rural Shropshire, England.<br /><br />"However, one variety of bee, the short-haired bumblebee, which Goulson observed as a boy, is now gone, a fact that spurred him to found the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and lead efforts to bring this particular species back to the UK from New Zealand.<br /><br />"In between describing the ordeal that ensued when Goulson and a fellow entomologist traveled to New Zealand to solve the puzzle of shipping bumblebee queens back to England, the author gives readers a solid grounding in bee gestation, anatomy, culture, and the many environmental threats bees are currently facing.<br /><br />"An outstanding piece of nature writing that also celebrates one of humankind’s most cherished insects."LKSeathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-69547510683379817092014-07-21T08:47:51.448-05:002014-07-21T08:47:51.448-05:00Not many comments were made yesterday about this a...Not many comments were made yesterday about this article, but I did receive this from my faithful blog reader and commenter, Thinking Friend Glenn Hinson:<br /><br />"I join you in that wish, Leroy. I once kept honey bees and am conscious of the contribution they make that extends far beyond production of honey. We endanger the natural order by over reliance on pesticides."LKSeathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.com