Albert Einstein once said: “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination … no more men!” He wasn’t an entomologist, but entomologists around today agree that the sudden and mysterious disappearance of bees from their hives poses serious problems!
Bits and pieces of information about farmers’ concerns for bee disappearance (or colony collapse disorder) in 24 states around the U.S. have bubbled up to the surface, over the last year and a half, but hardly any large-scale media attention has been drawn to this potentially serious problem. Recently bees have gone missing from hives around Europe as well. The East Coast of the U.S. is reporting a 70% loss in commercial bee hive habitation, the West Coast 60%; these figures are staggering.
An article in The Independent discusses a theory that cell phone radiation seriously interferes with bees’ ability to navigate through the air. Regardless of the cause, the implications of this phenomenon are enormous – and it is alarming how rapidly this is occurring. From a NYT article on 2/27/07: “…one study says that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in US, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts.”
April 24, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Albert Einstien was a physist. Not a beekeeper. A google search on Einstien and Bees doesn’t reveal this oft quoted phrase. None of the people who use this quote can point to where exactly Einstien said this.
Don’t get me wrong. The loss of Bees would be a disaster for pollination but attributing this quote to Einstien is disingenuous.
BEE=MC2
April 24, 2007 at 2:48 pm
ha thanks for your comment; a google search on einstein does reveal this phrase… but you’re right that there is dispute over it and i maybe shouldn’t have put it in there. regardless, small change – the phenomenon is happening. i think that calling it disingenuous is going a little far, as it has been in many articles – and well i liked the quotation, so i threw it in. yea i realize he was not a beekeeper!!
bees in the NYT today: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/science/24bees.html?em&ex=1177560000&en=f45a22e073a7984a&ei=5070
April 25, 2007 at 4:33 pm
This is scary stuff. Just one example of how the massive extinction rate that is currently ongoing (and will get worse as global warming accelerates) isn’t just about ’saving the animals’ – this shit affects us and could put billion millions if not billions of humans at risk.
The loss of a species occupying key positions in ecosystems can endanger the entire ecosystem and ‘co-extinctions’ accelerate the rate of species and biodiversity loss. And think about how many potential cures for cancer, inspirations for biomimicry technologies and any number of other useful lessons we could learn from these species that we are losing as species go extinct.
I wouldn’t be surprised if our cell phone usage or some of the other many kinds of waves we’re constantly pumping into the air these days would have unforseen consequences on sensitive species. Let’s hope we can figure out what’s causing this bee die-off and find a way to fix the problem. If not, we could be in real trouble…
May 2, 2007 at 9:33 am
The absence of bees is definitely not an issue to be overseen. I even think there is a lot more to come or, should I say, go away.
The global warming in general will not only trigger disapperance of bees, but a whole lot of other detailed, unpredictable events. All kinds of little effects will take place when climate changes evolve. Most of them will come as a surprise, and at first unnoticed, but when they occure they will all have there influence on the environment. The organisms or materials that are key-elemental for the survival of humanity will also be the most strinkingly. The question remains, will mankind be able to keep up the pace of finding solutions that are necessary to overcome, or maybe even prevent, these minor/major events as they will take place more often.
Anyhow, I find it fascinating just to be a part of these actual events.
BEE-come a BEE-keeper!
May 8, 2007 at 5:39 am
After searching the web some more, reading articles involving the contribution of polution by humans and its effect on global warming, it confirmed my previous post.
If the current rise of temperature continues it will not only be the bees who are in trouble, but a lot more organisms will be threatened. In fact, according to studies, one-fourth or 25% of the world’s plant and vertebrate animal species is predetermined to become extinct by the year 2050, if of course the warming continues at the current pace.
Taking action, which we will probably do, and whether the outcome will be succesfull or not, in the end this century will be one of changes all over the world and the common way of life.
Regards
(my apologies for the previous made spelling errors)
May 22, 2007 at 9:19 pm
To Mark:
You are certainly not a spelling BEE my friend. Albert was EINSTEIN and not
“Einstien” so do some more research -after checking your spelling.
May 22, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Brazil imported African bees in 1956. The experiment went wrong and 26 of the Africanized (=Killer Bees) hybrid queens escaped and migrated toward North, into Central America. The Killer Bees are very aggressive and they’ve killed at least 1,000 humans. In 1990 they appeared in Southern Texas, in 1993 in Arizona and in 1995 in California. The latest news about disappearing bee colonies came from Pennsylvania and some areas of Canada! To me this meant that the Killer Bees are interbreeding with our honey bees and the hybrids -according to the Smithsonian Institute web page on them, leaving their nests and hives “excessively” -and not surviving winters. Einstein was right about them -if the bees will be gone the only human survivors certainly will be forced to become cannibals…
October 15, 2007 at 6:39 pm
I’m not surprised by this story. I am a Christian and believe we have very little time before the rapture. I believe we are seeing many signs and wonders in nature, weather that predict an event of historic proportions. Man has polluted the earth to such a degree that we are now reaping this poisonous harvest. The bee is a fragile part of our system and an important indicator of our out of balance world.
November 1, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Man is the problem.We are all collectively killing this planet.We want instant gratification and don’t care how we get it…pollute, pollute pollute…with nobody to blame but ourselves. We will all wait till the 11th hour before it’s too late before any of us really believe this is happening. The question shouldn’t be about whether Albert said the quote or not…it should be about what can we do to change the course. It’s probably too late anyway…and it looks good on all of us…we’ve created this and now come the consequences…so bee it !!!
April 9, 2008 at 7:58 pm
This is all very interesting. The problem with most of us is we can talk this subject to death, but at the end of the day no one is doing anything to help. Everyone is more concerned about making more money then conserving what we have left on this world. I also find it very coincidental that there are many predication pointing to the end of the world in 2012.. while the bees are at their lowest point ever in 2008.. anyone.. anyone? Yellowstone is over-due, our north and south poles move more and more every year, peak of “sun storms” are predicted as well in 2012.. But lets all read these blogs, learn some interesting facts, and go on with our self destructive lives, shall we?
June 10, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Pardon my English please, but many people are doing something. I am only a layman, an armchair reader of randomness but here are some of the things being done by institutes and individuals around the world. If you are worried about the bees, consider financial or logistic support.
There is an attempt to understand the impact of transporting honey bee colonies via truck, there is research going on as to the causes of the colony collapses either due to pollution, fungus, various insect species, magnetic changes, or combinations of natural and synthetic causes. There is also research going on to try and understand the role of wind pollination on crops both domesticated and wild. And there is research being done to try and understand the intricate impacts and roles of the thousands of other species of bees and thousands of other species of insects who either live solitary lives or are not honey producing creatures but are pollinators.
What scares me isn’t that there are “things happening.” This planet is fascinating and things seem to happen quite often, if not, I dare say, constantly. What scares me is that when “things happen” gossips feel that they know enough to really say that “no one is doing anything” and that the evil people are out to make money and that we are all doomed. Life is but a long string of details, but sadly these delicate details get smashed by media frenzy hammers. So, I wish those who are doing something much luck in understanding what is going on.
As the the Einstein quote, here’s another quote not by him “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance.”
July 19, 2008 at 5:42 am
It is all very interesting and poinient we live in very interesting times indeed. now think about this, Bees have been exploited for centuries for their precious honey, it is their food supply and we leave them just enough to get them through the winter and to raise more workers.
Lets give thanks to the bees. We all love honey right!!! Bees work so hard to get that honey in the hope that they will proliferate and be fruitful. We take their honey and at the same time kill many of their numbers in the extraction process.
Think also of their food. not only the fact that their very skill as a pollinator is exploited only to be robbed of their stores when their services have been performed.
The pollen that the bees seek out is not what it use to be. hybridization and and GMOs have created proteins that many studies have shown to create problems in organisms. Pollen is rich in protein and with the widespread introduction of GMOs the bees immune system is breaking down.
Bees are the canary in the mine shaft and if you think that genetic engineering is safe then you may be in for shock when your system begins to break down.
These proteins are out of alignment with the natural order. i highly recommend anyone find alternatives, where possible, to ingesting them.
Be Peace.
November 1, 2008 at 4:21 am
Really the staggering declination in population of bees is a indicator of worry. We should think over this seriously else nature will punish us. Einstein said it correctly,”If bees perish human will have 4 years left to exist….”
I am going to do something about it ( to save the bees ) by doing apiculture on my land, somebody got an idea to suggest or any queries, needs to discuss with me more about importance of bees for the proper function of the nature’s cycles can do it.
Here’s my email id:
lamborghini7373@gmail.com
April 3, 2009 at 7:18 am
hope he did not mean nibiru by that
April 10, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Although he was a physicist, I doubt if Einstein was ignorant enough to make such a comment. Most of our staple foods: corn, wheat, rice and the other cereals, are wind-pollinated. Losing bees would have minimal impact on human survival and would simply affect prices of insect-pollinated crops, which are more of a luxury than a staple.
May 18, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I hear a lot about the plight of Bee but get increasingly frustrated about the lack of advice regarding simple things we can do to make things good for the bees.
Not talking about buying silly bamboo bee houses, (they probably might work but hey why buy when you can easily build.) Thinking more about identifying plant species and flowers we can put down to make food available for them. With the changing climate, spring coming earlier bees are having to cope with freak frosts, a lack of food when they emerge and ever changing landscapes depending on what fad we all picked up on from the Chelsea flower show this year.
Apologies this sounds a bit ranty buts gets my point.
At what point do we stop saying oooh isn’t it terrible the bees are dying and start saying what can I do to help.
The worst part is I don’t have the technical expertise to help.
Anyone out there who knows about bees, let us know how we can help please.
July 16, 2009 at 12:44 am
hello im simon