A Spring Without Bees

I have continued on my non-fiction kick and my hope for spring to arrive soon with A Spring Without Bees - How Colony Collapse Disorder has Endangered Our Food Chain; a book by Michael Schacker.

This book is pretty well summed up by its title. Its a book on the importance of bees and the recent development of bee colonies collapsing. I found several things interesting in this book. The bee species that we depend on to pollinate much of our agriculture in the United States had its genome mapped. Turns out it actually has a poor immune system. Not good in a society that wants to spray everything! Chances are the pesticides that we are putting on our fields and lawns are actually killing the very creatures we depend on to pollinate them. What makes the situation more appalling is the loopholes that allow the manufactures to get away with little to no testing of some of these pesticides. One would think that if it is being sprayed on a food crop there would be stringent testing but apparently that is not always the case.

I also found interesting the comparison of pesticide use on agriculture fields to that on golf course and neighborhood lawns. Turns out that  Americans have the perception that a green lawn is the only good lawn. This means that in many areas neighborhood lawns and golf course use more water and pesticides than any food crop. Something to think about. I don't have a lawn and don't golf but is that perfectly manicured lawn really worth it? I would rather have a bunch of native plants and wildlife any day of the week.

As I got further into the book, the author did get up on his soap box a bit. I actually got a bit annoyed in a couple spots - I get it. "We should try and switch to organic farming so the bees do not ingest the pesticides. Bees are critical to our environment". Despite that, I found that this book presented some interesting facts to think about. And I think we all need to thank our little friends for how much they contribute to our daily lives.