Posted by Sarah on 27 Jun 2007 | Tagged as: Green, Current Affairs, Science
In the past 35 years, approximately half of the U.S. honey bee colonies have disappeared. This loss has been attributed to a cummulative effect from causes such as urbanization, pesticide use, mites, and commercial beekeepers retiring or going out of business. Between 2006 and 2007, losses have increased dramatically and a new term, Colony Collapse Disorder , has been created to give the bees a complex. Only kidding, yet “disorder” does seem to hold the bees responsible for their population decline when current evidence supports human impact.
It says here, pollinators are required for producing 15-30% of the human food supply, and farmers rely on managed honey bees throughout the world to provide these services. Everything is connected, so it seems that helping bees would be helping humans.
In aknowledgement, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., introduced legislation Tuesday to fund research into the die-off of millions of honeybees in the United States. The Pollinator Protection Act would authorize $89 million in federal funding for a research and grant program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture over five years, for work related to maintaining the bee population as well as native pollinators.
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