This Bugs Me, and it Should Bug You Too

[Libsam]

On conserving the bugs' natural habitat:

Low-reproduction 1st world countries could stop importing high-reproduction 3rd worlders. Of course that would mean having to address government ponzi schemes that need more and more people to keep it afloat.

 

[DMBFFF]

The bee thing was kind of a puzzle but as I understand it they have figured it out. ......

......

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it's loading too slow for me to read it but I think this might be the article or there's another one in Bloomberg that is similar

I understand that bees are being overworked, which makes them weaker. What chemical kills mites without harming bees? a least a relatively safe inexpensive one?

Nobody likes insects,

I like butterflies, moths, bees, occasionally wasps—I once fed a few tiny bits of chicken as well as left used syrup for them, fireflies, and some of those colourful beetles, mantises, dragon and damsel flies.

Having said that I recently inadvertently drowned a scorpion in my place. I'm going to go full-on chemical warfare.

but it'll kill your insect allies.

Mantis makes easy snack of small Scorpion
1:39
163,706 views

I don't believe we need to go back to the 14th century either.

......

What I do believe is that the kind of capitalism we practice is not compatible with long term planning, and actively interferes with solutions to long term problems.

Noted.

On conserving the bugs' natural habitat:
Low-reproduction 1st world countries could stop importing high-reproduction 3rd worlders. Of course that would mean having to address government ponzi schemes that need more and more people to keep it afloat.

Yeah, we could just die off—another option for the environmental cause.

 

[BoyNextDoor]

Fewer people. Put birth control in the water supply.

 

[Que]

I understand that bees are being overworked, which makes them weaker. What chemical kills mites without harming bees? a least a relatively safe inexpensive one?


I like butterflies, moths, bees, occasionally wasps—I once fed a few tiny bits of chicken as well as left used syrup for them, fireflies, and some of those colourful beetles, mantises, dragon and damsel flies.




but it'll kill your insect allies.

Mantis makes easy snack of small Scorpion
1:39
163,706 views





Noted.





Yeah, we could just die off—another option for the environmental cause.

That's a pretty good point. I should probably look for some preying mantises the other place I lived in on the other side of state was worse with bark scorpions. We would get them in the house occasionally. One night though something scared the hell out of me moving at about 30 miles an hour across the floor at I killed it with a shoe.

Once it was good and dead, I looked it up and what it is was what's called a wind scorpion which is not a scorpion at all it's actually a child of the earth spider that kills scorpions I should have left it alone.

 

[DrDelirium]

Fewer people. Put birth control in the water supply.

Drugs in the water supply are already an environmental problem. Fortunately, at this point, they are mostly anti-depressants, which should at least help keep bees from spiraling into depression killing themselves because of loss of habitat. Birth control, however, could have many negative impacts on other species. Mice having irresponsible sex, for instance. Mood swings among feral cats. Chubby, emasculated pigeons. Crow orgies.

 

[contrifan32]

The bee thing was kind of a puzzle but as I understand it they have figured it out.

I don't remember exactly how it worked but it was very counterintuitive it was lack of pesticides that was causing the problem.

There were these mites that would infest beehives which were easily controlled by modern beekeepers but so many people were trying to help with the problem and keeping bees pesticide-free that they were actually acting as vectors for these mites.

I might have the details off a little bit but that's the general gist of it.

Nobody likes insects, but I agree that it is a problem. I can't imagine that it's not due to our use of pesticides.

Having said that I recently inadvertently drowned a scorpion in my place. I'm going to go full-on chemical warfare.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/07/23/call-off-the-bee-pocalypse-u-s-honeybee-colonies-hit-a-20-year-high/?utm_term=.68270393944a

it's loading too slow for me to read it but I think this might be the article or there's another one in Bloomberg that is similar

I need to make some corrections and while I am not an expert I have been a beekeeper for 26 years. First, there has not been a definitive single source explanation of what causes colony collapse if that is the "bee thing" you are referring to. It appears to be more of an issue to large migration beekeepers that move colonies to different crops at different times of the growing season for pollination services. With larger farms the bees don't get a good balance of nutrients for different pollen and nectar sources which is not healthy for humans or bees. They do have a tendency to be subjected to more pesticides while pollinating in addition to the stress of being moved up to 1500 miles around the country during the season.

The mites that you refer to are an ongoing problem for all beekeepers. Yes, there are pesticide products that kill mites in the hive but don't kill the bees, but as is the case with many such products improper use can lead to pesticide resistant mites. There are several new products that are available in most states that are not considered toxic that do in fact knock down mite populations but there is not end all cure.

 

[stickygirl]

Fewer people. Put birth control in the water supply.

Switch off all your lights and lock the doors. The ProLifers are on their way right now

 

[stickygirl]

...Crow orgies.

I thought maybe that could be a Hitchcock thing so I Googled it - Wow - didn't expect that

 

[Richard_P_Feynman]

There is some speculation that hormonal birth control in the water supply is the culprit for low sperm count in western men.

 

[DMBFFF]

I should probably look for some preying mantises

Google search:mantis egg cases for sale

Good luck with the scorpion problem.

but as is the case with many such products improper use can lead to pesticide resistant mites.

Good point. I wonder what the natural controls for such mites are.





Caribou's Bees
5:26
65,652 views
No bees in this video. The music is reputedly "folktronica."

 

[DrDelirium]

Good point. I wonder what the natural controls for such mites are.

Usually the natural controls for such things are on-going low-level infestations that get out of control when other stressors impact their hosts.

 

[Libsam]

Yeah, don't worry birth control is already poisoning our water.

Fish becoming transgender from contraceptive pill chemicals being flushed down household drains

Birth control is giving rise to transgender fish

Frogs and Fish are sentinel species, literally canaries in a coal mine.

 

[Libsam]

Yeah, we could just die off—another option for the environmental cause.

Reductio ad absurdum

 

[adrina]

The reality is that we can choose to do something or Ma Nature will make the choice for us. And it will end up being very nonconsensual.

Regarding food... we over produce food. Estimates as high as half of the produce grown in the US ends up in the landfill. 20% of what goes into the landfill is food. Whether it's because it's not pretty enough to go to market or it is wasted at home. Either way... it ends up there.

One of the problems with the bees is not enough genetic diversity. That needs to be handled. I haven't seen hardly any bees in my garden for... a couple years now. Which considering I purposefully plant a pollinators garden is a bit insane. I get other pollinators, just precious few bees. And it has become fewer with each passing year.

 

[AngusBridie]

I have a friend that drives a truck delivering food for somewhat of a major grocery store chain in the midwest..
He said you'd be amazed what gets thrown out, the amounts...

 

[about_average]

But the people who made your cheap computer or phone don't generally have that choice. And if you're one of the people with the resources to make that choice, cheap food keeps a lot of people from eating you.

A hell of a lot of people could grow a substantial portion of their own food if they chose to.

 

[DMBFFF]

Reductio ad absurdum

People in developed countries tend to reproduce less, those in developing—some anyway—produce more. As immigrants come to the US, they replenish the population, until they stop contributing to a net increase. Without them, America's population might slowly decline. Probably not to zero, but at least numerically significant declines.

This might happen even if Trump concocted some stupid pro-natalist scheme—not that I think the womenfolk would be in a cooperating mood even in such a case.



My 493th post.
My 500th and last one for the day will be in the Playground

 

[stickygirl]

From the little I've read, it's seems the experts can't agree on the reasons for the decline of the bee population, but I think this report is looking at all insects. So while it is a significant discovery, it's purpose was to provide evidence rather than answers, anecdotal or otherwise.
There is plenty of food, but it is produced badly: imposed on Nature, not working with it: monoculture, lack of diversity... There are plenty of good practices from the past, when there was less packaging for foods for example and some great advances from modern science, such as LED lighting and renewable energy. What we lack is the political will to make the changes, so it comes down to small pressure groups to take a lead.

 

[Libsam]

People in developed countries tend to reproduce less, those in developing—some anyway—produce more. As immigrants come to the US, they replenish the population, until they stop contributing to a net increase. Without them, America's population might slowly decline. Probably not to zero, but at least numerically significant declines.

Have you reached a conclusion about whether a declining population is bad or good yet?

 

[SelfTawt]

‘I reject your “reality”, and substitute my own’.

 

[Libsam]

Risk vs. Reward

Will the unintended consequences outweigh the attempts to stop desertification?

New technology in China turns desert into land rich with crops

I hope this doesn't turn into another Great Leap Forward.

 

[Libsam]

‘I reject your “reality”, and substitute my own’.

^^ postmodernist

 

[SelfTawt]

^^ postmodernist

^^^^ Labelmaker.

 

[doowdniw]

Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring in the early 1960s. It's worth a read.

 

[Ishmael]

Oh, we’ll pay the price. The climate change deniers and anti science crowd will make sure of that.

Let me ask you a serious question sparky.

Exactly when do you think we had the most bio-diverse periods during the earths history? During the Paleogene when it was 4+ deg. C hotter than it is today, or during the most recent Ice Age?

Ishmael