The dreaded global warming “bee-pocalypse” that wasn’t
Climate alarmist predictions of American bee colony collapse disaster lose their sting.
Not too long ago, climate alarmists were predicting “bee-pocalyse”.
A spate of reports about American bee colonies being wiped-out for no apparent reason had people worried about the total loss of one of nature’s most important species.
There were numerous theories bandied about for bee colony collapse (e.g., GMO’s, climate change, pesticides). But usually it was mankind that was the root cause of another impending global crisis.
The experts predicted that the consequences to global food production would be unimaginable. We were all going to starve to death!
Now it appears as the bee-pocalypse has been called-off!
[T]he number of honeybee colonies has actually risen since 2006, from 2.4 million to 2.7 million in 2014, according to data tracked by the USDA. The 2014 numbers, which came out earlier this year, show that the number of managed colonies — that is, commercial honey-producing bee colonies managed by human beekeepers — is now the highest it’s been in 20 years.
So if CCD is wiping out close to a third of all honeybee colonies a year, how are their numbers rising? One word: Beekeepers.
A 2012 working paper by Randal R. Tucker and Walter N. Thurman, a pair of agricultural economists, explains that seasonal die-offs have always been a part of beekeeping: they report that before CCD, American beekeepers would typically lose 14 percent of their colonies a year, on average.
So beekeepers have devised two main ways to replenish their stock. The first method involves splitting one healthy colony into two separate colonies: put half the bees into a new beehive, order them a new queen online (retail price: $25 or so), and voila: two healthy hives.
I look forward to seeing even more “consensus” science refuted by reality.
(Featured image from Youtube video).
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
A lot of people will argue until they are blue in the face that the problem is nicotinic insecticides. The problem with that reasoning is that those same insecticides are used in Australia and New Zealand where colonies are not collapsing.
So far the biggest single reason that Ag researchers have identified for bee colonies collapsing: poorly trained beekeepers. It used to be a farmer’s occupation and they began training for it in their youth. Today, more beekeepers are hobbyists who are not trained at all.
Bee keeping has indeed become hot among retirees who moved to the country. I suspect in many cases they have read a book on it and little more.
Alas, this will have *zero* impact on belief in the next Apocalyptic Scenario of Doom.
Heck, most people still think the Arctic ice cap is shrinking.
Wait. I know the Antarctic ice cap is shrinking. And due to El Nino seasonal warming the Arctic ice cap was at least temporarily below average.
But … is the Arctic cap NOT shrinking?
I know the Antarctic ice cap is shrinking.
You do?
Antartic ice is increasing in 3/4th of Antartica, but is decreasing in an area where there exists is an active underwater volcano range.
Um, the Arctic cap is shrinking, isn’t it? It’s the Antarctic that’s (mostly) growing. Or has that changed recently?
Arctic ice may have reached a minimum about 2012 and started to turn.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/09/16/peter-wadhams-was-wrong-arctic-sea-ice-still-there-no-record-low-this-year/
Meanwhile, NASA continues to cook the books, and refuses to disclose its raw data.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/02/02/2014-was-the-hottest-year-on-record-but-2015-is-hotter-than-2014-and-2016-could-be-hotter-than-2015/
I still remember the old Turtles comics where they would warp up a story with a moral tale on how, if we didn’t stop the way we were polluting the earth, glaciers were going to cover New York.
And sooner or later they will. We’re overdue for the next ice age.
Data and facts are anathema to a leftist. Beliefs and agendas and intentions rule their world and will rule ours also if they have their way.
Facts are like sunlight to a vampire when displayed to a leftist.
Most of the hard core simply wish that most of us would die without children. Every sign is one of doom. Every change is disaster.
They have a vision of Eden that began right around Thoreau. Any measures to lock the world into that vision are fine with them.
Reality is very unappealing to leftists/statists/control-freaks.
Seems to me the excerpts here only prove that there are effective ways of dealing with the population decline problem, and they have been employed, not that there isn’t actually a problem out in the wild.
The original panic in the press was about artificial hives … if my aging memory serves.
I don’t believe you are correct, but thank you for not calling me an alarmist, which is the feedback I expected.
Therein lies a metaphor for climate change in general, it would seem.
Why is it a problem if wild colonies are collapsing? What great benefit do we get from wild colonies that would justify worrying about them? If all the wild bees were to disappear, how would this affect us?
Biggest concern I read early on was that wild bees contribute to food crop pollination. I recall something like 2/3? of food crops require pollination. Managed hives address some of that demand, and wild bees do their part of the job, too.
I don’t think that’s the case, but even if it’s so, it doesn’t have to remain so. If wild bees are indeed doing a significant part of the work, then if they disappear more domestic bees will be bred to fill the gap.
Liberals want Americans to “bee-lieve” anything they say and change their lifestyles to accommodate the lowest common denominator. They’re looking for “hive-mind” mentally. But I’ll have no part of their “sting” stories. Based on the facts I know they’re just “winging” it as they go. Well I have two words for them; BUZZ OFF!
Right now the big made up “crisis” is the Zika Virus.
Those with nefarious intentions are always good at, “Oh, look, sparklies!” while they steal our wallets.
It seems lately that everything the scientific experts have told us is “settled science” turns out to be wrong. We should establish an annual Emily Litella award for the best “Never Mind” of the year.