dude, i lost my buzz
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.
best dressed.
Clearly, this guy knows how to dress. Needless to say, I’m excited for the movie : )
pittsburgh 25. new england 17.
If you can’t play it above, download it here, silly: Chrome/Safari | Firefox
his predictions were correct
Unless you’re still using floppy drives, you’ve heard the flurry of stories surrounding the late technology visionary, Steve Jobs. In addition to the now famous biography on the Apple CEO that’s flying off the shelves, many articles and old interviews have been popping up from years past. Below is one such interview I came across on the PBS website from the year 1990. The interview features a young Steve Jobs not long after leaving Apple and having begun his new company NeXT. Having been a Mac fan for a few years now, I’ve come to appreciate the intense care and precision that goes into the creation of every Apple product. Since the death of Mr. Jobs, I’ve been interested to learn more about his life and his person. This PBS interview (full interview on the PBS site) gives a glimpse into the incredible innovator Steve Jobs was, particularly, in this case, at the beginning of the nineties. Some of the predictions he made concerning the evolution of the personal computer are very impressive. I would have to echo the sentiments of other writers to say that it is truly unfortunate that Jobs was taken so early.
the book of faces turns another page
A few weekends ago, Facebook held its annual developers conference in San Francisco, California. The conference, called F8, is a gathering of web developers from companies and countries abroad who are looking to hear what Zuckerberg’s social media network has in store next. Two of the most powerful new features Facebook will be releasing are Timeline (launching this week) and additions to the Open Graph language used for Likes and FBConnect.
As a Facebook developer, you are granted access to the beta version of Timeline, which I’ve been able to try out over the last week or so. Timeline essentially adds a new area to your Facebook profile that enables you to easily view your entire Facebook history. And when I say entire, I mean, literally, everything. Every past post, picture, or comment that you’ve ever entered on Facebook since you originally joined is visible just by scrolling down the profile. Your Facebook history makes up your Facebook Timeline. The timeline even begins with your birthday and allows you to upload a baby photo, if you wish.
Now, if you’ve read my previous posts on Facebook, you’ll know that my faith in the social site has waned rather than grown for the most part. When I initially heard of Timeline, I had my doubts as usual and wasn’t too sure if I liked the idea of all my old posts being so visible. But, as I thought about it more and began to use the Timeline, my opinion’s changed. Honestly, it’s pretty cool. Scrolling back through “Facebook time” and seeing things that were happening throughout the past handful of years is fun. The way Facebook has organized the info is well done too, which makes it easy to use and view. (They actually hired Nicholas Felton, a professional designer of infographics to help with the Facebook Timeline changes.)
It’s no surprise that Facebook has big ideas for what Timeline will do, besides make the company a boat load of money. Facebook hopes for users to fill out their Timeline by going back and posting events and pictures in the past. Timeline gives you the ability to date posts. So, you can go back and change a picture that was posted about that crazy concert the following week to the Saturday night it actually happened. Or create a new Timeline wedding event and put up your wedding photos. Or upload pics of when you learned to ride a bike. Or bought a house. Or a car. Or, yes, even when you got the chicken pox. Well, maybe you don’t want pictures of that, but you could if you want. Yeah, crazy, I know. Facebook has given the world the ability to create a personalized visual timeline of your life.
The other new feature, which may have a bigger impact, at lease for businesses who use social media, is the Open Graph update. Users will now not just be able to say that they “Like this website,” but be able to say that he or she is “Wearing AE Jeans,” or “Bought a new Ford Mustang.” With the addition of custom action verbs, Facebook is giving developers and sites the ability to create applications to very specifically describe a person’s activity online.
I’m sure marketing execs everywhere are dancing in their cubicles. The possibilities seem almost endless. As do the privacy concerns. I don’t “Like” too much now, especially on websites other than Facebook. And I’d be cautious as to what you’re “wearing,” “buying,” or “listening” to in the future as the new applications begin popping up all over the place.
The impacts of Facebook’s new changes have the potential to be massive from many perspectives. This All Things Digital article provides one perspective that describes how the Open Graph updates are in effect allowing Facebook to take in very dynamic data from the entire internet … and own it.
I’m more excited for the Timeline changes, but it will be interesting to see over the next few months how Open Graph allows online activity to get even more personal. Geez, we thought people were on Facebook all the time already.
ten years ago today
Ten years ago today, President George W. Bush described the attacks that shook our nation: “Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts.”
Ten years ago today, I remember exactly where I was when the news spread.
Ten years ago today, the lives of thousands were changed forever.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt described December 7th, 1941 as “a date which will live in infamy.” I think many would agree that September 11th, 2001 is the “Pearl Harbor” of our generation. I’ll never forget walking through the high school halls to a morning class during my sophomore year and hearing fellow students yelling “They’re attacking us!” Confused and not sure what to think, I remember sitting down in that next class where my teacher had on the news. Every channel was a new channel that day. I don’t remember really believing what I was watching at the time. It seemed surreal. Seeing those planes fly directly into the sides of the Twin Towers. This has got to be a movie. It wasn’t.
Hearing the news of the crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania was just as jarring. Knowing that an attack came so close to my home was horrifying. Since that day, I’ve had the opportunity to visit the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville and Ground Zero in New York City. This experience provided a connection to those who lost their lives in a way that you can’t get by reading an article or watching a television special. Standing in those places remind you truly what happened that day.
The events of September 11th, 2001 changed the course of many things. It changed the lives of New Yorkers. It changed the lives of those living the Capital. It changed the lives of Pennsylvanians. It changed the lives of Americans. American flags began waving in more places than I’d ever seen before. Waving on front porches, cars, office buildings, stores, trucks and buses, shirts, pants and hats. American pride was never higher. The outpouring of giving and care for others was amazing.
This past week provided many opportunites to reflect on 9/11. Radio programs, television specials, articles, songs and books commemorated the events of the past. It is a good thing. We need to remember. We need to tell the stories. We need to visit the memorials. We need to rekindle that American pride. We need to not forget that day, ten years ago today.