My husband and I recently took a leisurely stroll around our neighborhood on a beautiful spring day. At one point, my husband stopped before a flowery hedge and appeared to be examining it intensely.
“What are you looking for?” I asked.
“Bees,” he replied.
And much to our dismay, where normally there would have been dozens of little bees buzzing about, there were none. Not a single bee was to be seen.
As many of you know, there has been an inexplicable disappearance of honeybees throughout America and parts of Europe since last fall. This condition has been labeled “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD). Entire colonies disappear from their hives, leaving only the queen and a few worker bees behind.
This situation is alarming at many levels. Obviously, no honey bees=no pollination=no flowers for perfumery (not to mention the devastating impact on the food supply). But the larger implications of the loss of honey bees is even more troubling. What is going on environmentally that is causing these dear little creatures to perish, and what does it mean over the long haul? Are bees today’s “canary in the coal mines?” Are they the sensitive indicators of environmental balance and imbalance? Their disappearance is truly troubling.
Several theories have been set forth to explain their disappearance. Some scientists propose that a bee parasite is making the bees sick. Others suggest that environmental herbicides and pesticides are killing them.
And perhaps most intriguing is a study by German researchers suggesting that the growing use of cell phones could in some way be responsible. Scientists at Germany’s Landau University have discovered that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. It is thought that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees’ navigation systems, making them unable to find their way back to their hive. To read more about this, please see the article in The Independent and this short article in the April 20th, 2007 earthweek.com.
You can listen to an episode of the program “To the Point” on Public Radio International (PRI) which discusses Colony Collapse Disorder by clicking here.
This issue is of special concern to The Perfume Bee. And I’m curious about your local bee populations. Have you noticed a decrease in the number of these buzzy little friends in your neighborhood?
One final note: there is a quotation attributed to Albert Einstein making the rounds which may actually be a fabrication. It is as follows:
If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.
The rumor detectives at Snopes.com are fairly certain Einstein never uttered these words. If you’d like to see the rest of the Snopes.com take on this, please click here.
Photo: Stanisa Martinovic for earthweek.com
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