nathan jara

When I first joined Netflix, I was excited about all the blockbusters and hits I’d be able to see. Classic dramas and thrillers to stream that I’d never get to enjoy otherwise. However, I’ve found on multiple occasions that I’ve learned so much and have enjoyed watching the many documentaries that are available. Tonight, I was moved and impacted greatly again by a documentary called “Vanishing of the Bees.” I mentioned this movie a while back in my post “we can’t lose the buzz,” but at the time, the movie was only available in select areas at special screenings. Since then, Netflix picked it up, allowing me to view this interesting piece about a mystery that I believe, along with many who are much more educated on the subject than myself, is, can, and will have an enormous impact on our lives if we don’t make a change.

If you’re not familiar with the subject, the problem is honey bees. Well, the honey bees aren’t the problem, it’s the lack of honey bees that is the problem. Almost ten years ago, bee colonies began disappearing. Hives that were thriving with thousands of bees one week were completely empty just two or three weeks later. The bees were just gone. Not dead. Gone. There weren’t any dead bee bodies on the ground. They disappeared. This of course was cause for great concern for the beekeepers and demanded investigation. Without bees, there’s lack of pollination. Without pollination, there’s lack plant growth. Without plant growth, there’s lack of corn, apples, oranges, beans, tomatoes, berries, you get the picture. No bees means we’re going to be hungry. According to the American Beekeeping Federation, bee pollination contributes “over $14 billion to the value of U.S. crop production.” To me, that sounds like enough to make us want to figure out what’s going on.

Since the disappearing of the bees began, the phenomenon has been dubbed CCD or colony collapse disorder. Many studies have been conducted to break apart the honeycomb of complexity surrounding the problem. The experts may have found the cause which are toxic pesticides that have been applied to crop. This theory was validated when U.S. beekeepers traveled to Europe to discuss similar problems beekeepers had in countries like France and England. The Europeans have seen almost identical phenomenon like CCD with their bees. They, however, saw this behavior beginning back in the early ’90s. Research led to science which proved the use of pesticides on monoculture crop had a degrading effect on the growth of the bees. (Monoculture crop farming is another whole subject which scares me about our U.S. food system. Monoculture systems basically mean instead of farmers growing corn and tomatoes and carrots and beans, they just grow corn. And lots of it. So much that the corn has to be genetically “enhanced” to grow “properly.” This just isn’t right. It’s not how it’s meant to be. Plants grow naturally and healthily when interspersed with other species of plants. That’s how nature intended it. That’s how it works. By creating these monocultures, we’re trying to bend something that’s not natural to happen naturally. If it happened naturally, why did we have to change the genetics? And these monocultures are a big problem because the bees don’t sustain well when all they have to work with is corn pollen. So they go somewhere else. They disappear.) Sorry for the tangent there, back to just the bees… So basically, by using pesticides on the seeds of plants, the plants grow with the chemicals in them. And in the pollen the plants produce. A bee comes to the flower, takes the pollen back to the hive, makes the honey, feeds the infant bees, now the bees grow on food with toxic chemicals. These chemicals, the keepers believe, cause negative effects on the bee’s nervous systems and produce bees that just don’t quite function as they should. Think about it, if a human takes drugs, especially for a long period of time, there are most certainly negative effects.

In Europe, the beekeepers took to the streets with protests and eventually got the government to ban these harmful chemicals from being used on crops. About a year later, the bees bounced back and stopped disappearing. (Insert shocked face here.) In the U.S., this hasn’t quite worked. (Another shocked face.) The most disturbing part in the U.S. is how these pesticides are approved for use in the first place. The good ‘ole EPA approves the use of chemicals based on a risk assessment system. Basically, the gentlemen and ladies in the agency decide how big the risk is for a new chemical product to be used on our food. The company who makes the food provides research denoting the effects their chemical can have on wildlife, such as bees, and if the EPA doesn’t feel it’s that big a risk, hey, farmers can go to town and spray away. Hold on, let me say that again: the company who makes the chemicals provides the research. (Flashing red lights and sirens please.)

So needless to say, the beekeepers haven’t been able to make quite the same progress through the regulatory system as they have in Europe. This isn’t to say we shouldn’t try. We, of course, have the power to write our congressman and bring light to this issue. We can also help spread the word and educate ourselves on ways we can help. Experts in the documentary give some other suggestions. One experts quote was one of my favorite from the film. He said that we can change the way our food is produced, meaning in a natural and non-monoculture way, by “voting with your fork.” He notes that we can “vote three times a day” by choosing to eat organic and naturally grown foods. Think about it, if more people buy non-genetically enhanced products, the stores and markets will be forced to give the people what they want, which is healthy naturally grown produce. This is the real way we can change the system.

You may be wondering, “why is this web developer talking so much about bees?” And the answer would be that it’s not just about bees. When you think about the impact these amazing creatures have on our well being, it’s mind blowing. Think about how these little guys buzzing from flower to flower affects that apple you just ate. Or the orange you just peeled. Or the corn on the cob you like to smother with butter in the summer time. Think about the impact they have and how the total and utter ignorance of the bureaucratic farming system that has come to be in our world is killing what nature perfected. It’s just plain scary.

It may have taken a documentary to get me fired up about the bees, but I hope this post gets you thinking too. Take some time to watch the movie or read up on it. I think our health and the future health of our country depends in many ways on our honey making buddies. If we don’t do what we can, there may not be much left to buzz about.

Mother nature and her impact is heavy on everyone’s mind recently of course with the devastating earthquake and tsunami in the Pacific. Events such as these remind us how subject we are to our environment and humble us with what we take for granted. Another force in nature upon which we depend greatly with are honey bees and the endless work they perform in ensuring the pollination of our food. The silence of the buzzing throughout the world raised eyebrows months ago but since has faded away from the news spotlight. In my most recent Slow Food USA newsletter, I learned of a new documentary dedicated to this mystery of the bees. It’s called Vanishing of the Bees. Check out the trailer and learn more about what it could mean if we can’t figure out where the bees are going. The consequences aren’t very sweet.

Vacation. Yes, vacation. This past week I was on vacation. And a glorious one it was. A handful of my best friends and I travelled to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for a week of sand, sun and fun. It was my first time in the Outer Banks and I had a blast. Renting a house near the beach I spent the majority of my time making the tough decisions in life, such as, should I read some more of my book? maybe have a snack? boogie-boarding? no, I think it might be time for a nap. These were the most frequent dilemmas I faced while taking in the bright sun and ocean breeze. North Carolina is a beautiful area. Mostly just beach, beach, and more beach, which was fine with me. I was able to relax, de-stress, and not think about work once. I also indulged in some fantastic meals prepared by my 5-star chef friends :)

We enjoyed five picture perfect days at the beach … until … he came. Yes, the hurricane named Earl. He swept in andpushed us off the beach two days before we were ready. It was an interesting experience really. I’ve never been affected this much by weather, growing up in Pennsylvania. We found ourselves glued to The Weather Channel several times during the week and were finally forced to evacuate Thursday morning before the storm hit that night. What a bummer. I admit that I did fall into a beach depression for some time, but we ventured forward determined not to let Earl get the best of us.

Leaving the Outer Banks, we spent some time in the Washington D.C. area and visited Georgetown for an evening. The following day we turned our vegetable-like vacation into an educational one and drove to Mount Vernon, the old home of the original “G Dubya.” We took a tour of George Washington’s old mansion and walked some of his enormous estate. I tried to place myself back in that time period and was amazed to think how much life has changed since Washington was the man of the hour. From Mount Vernon, we continued our hop up the east coast and made a final stop at the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore, Maryland. A good dinner and beach reminiscing at the local Hard Rock Cafe prepared us for our final trip back home to the ‘burgh. While I’m still not giving up my grudge against Earl, I had an awesome time this past week. It was a trip I’ll never forget; a gratuitous amount of fun, really ;)

Tonight’s one of those nights when I’m clearly, or rather unclearly, reminded of what living in Pittsburgh means for star gazing; it doesn’t happen. The clouds and city lights are blocking my view from the night sky tonight, most unfortunately, as I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the latest coronal mass ejection hitting earth. Coronal mass ejections, which are huge eruptions on the sun’s surface, get thrown into space and eventually can come in contact with earth, producing auroras. NASA has reported that this event in particular is one of the largest in a while. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to catch the next one. In the mean time, maybe I’ll have better luck catching these ejections, but then again, they seem to be kind of poopy today too ;)