bees and their honey

I have been obsessed with reading about CCD - colony collapse disorder - since I first heard about the masses of bee populations dying off for reasons that are befuddling most scientists. I saw this article today on CNN Money, which is probably one of the most informative articles on this subject that I've found in a while.

First of all, to get everyone up to speed, Rob told me about this bee thing a few months ago. He mentioned that bees are dying off at unprecedented rates and that if they all go away, humans would have four years left on this planet. I immediately started researching this all over the web (because we all know if it's on the web it must be true....), and decided that I better start stockpiling. My friends all thought I was crazy when I went out and purchased a 20 lb. bag of rice. Maybe I was and it's definitely going to take me about 10 years to eat it all (even though I make a lot of rice, I don't always post the recipe. Maybe I should and you'll see how much rice I actually have!). Upon further research, I realized that just like Albert Einstein who hypothesized that man would have 4 years left, I was probably taking an alarmist attitude by stockpiling canned goods and sustenance food.

While my worries about humans becoming extinct in my lifetime have subsided, this article solidifies my worry about the fate of our fruit and vegetable crop. Hence, one of the reasons I started my own vegetable garden this year. This article brought to light a few things:

- I had no idea that bee colonies are transported from coast to coast seasonally to assist with the growing seasons of various crops. This seems utterly ridiculous to me. In fact, it's almost as ludicrous as buying an apple that has been hauled from New Zealand. It seems like there would be local beekeepers, but I guess because of the trouble in keeping hives vibrant, many local beekeepers have retired.

- I worry about the crops most at risk, like cherries, oranges, carrots, broccoli, blueberries, onions, garlic, soybeans, apples and almonds. Even if the population of bees diminishes significantly, the price for these staples will become cost prohibitive for many of us to afford. No more blueberry pancakes? *sniff*

- One theory is that the pesticides used on staple crops, like corn and soybeans, may be a cause of the bee die-off. Even if it's not, I suspect that many other things suffer from our over zealous use of pesticides (including our water supply, a post for another day).

- Lastly, I understand that the world has lots of problems, but we continue to subsidize corn and soybean harvesters (whose prime use, by the way, is to feed cattle, not humans), and do not provide any funds to determine what is killing the bees. Sure, we'll have high fructose corn syrup, twinkies and rice, but what about all the other nutritional sources required for our dietary needs.

I'm quite certain that I won't be solving the world's problems with this post, and I'm not even sure what I can do about it. I'm not worried that the bees will become extinct any time soon. I'm also not worried that humans will disappear four years after bees do. But I do worry about the affordability of nutrition, and the not so subtle side effects, like heart disease and diabetes, that will occur from opting for cheaper and, most certainly, less nutrient rich foods.

I'm off to eat a [locally grown] apple.

*healthy foodie*