Dan Rather Reports - Buzzkill
Published on Apr 3, 2013
(First 35 mins) This year marks the highest losses of honey bee populations in the U.S. Some of the country's biggest beekeepers have lost over 60%. Some say they won't be able to rebuild their numbers with such high losses and if these kinds of losses continue, the industry may only be able to sustain itself a few more years at most. WIth one in three bites of food we eat dependent on bees for pollination, will there be enough bees to pollinate the crops this year? The almond orchards in California are the first test where 85% of the world's almonds come from. Enter a fascinating world of the largest mass pollination event on earth. Producer/Editor - Laura Minnear
HAVING SYNC ISSUES? Try this link:
People & Blogs
Standard YouTube License
Trailer for Vanishing of the Bees Documentary
This documentary takes a piercing investigative look at the economic, political and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of the honeybee. The film examines our current agricultural landscape and celebrates the ancient and sacred connection between man and the honeybee.
TED Talk by Martha Spivak: Why Bees Are Disappearing
Honeybees have thrived for 50 million years, each colony 40 to 50,000 individuals coordinated in amazing harmony. So why, seven years ago, did colonies start dying en masse? Marla Spivak reveals four reasons which are interacting with tragic consequences. This is not simply a problem because bees pollinate a third of the world’s crops. Could this incredible species be holding up a mirror for us?
ABOUT THE AMERICAN BEE PROJECT
One out of every three bites of food we eat depends on the honey bee. Tragically, commercial bee colonies are collapsing throughout the United States and around the world at an alarming rate. Colony Collapse Disorder is linked to a type of pesticide introduced in 1999 that is widely used on agricultural products. It is imperative that beekeepers have access to land that has not been exposed to these substances to rebuild bee colonies.
The American Bee Project seeks to connect owners of vacant land with commercial beekeepers. We are working with state and local governments throughout America to establish commercial beekeeping as a legal agricultural use of land. By leasing their vacant land to a commercial beekeeper for legitimate commercial agricultural use, property owners may be able to save thousands of dollars on their property taxes while helping to save the bees. Commercial beekeepers use the land to make honey and rebuild the health of their hives. Together we can save the bees, and ourselves, one acre at a time.