By Amanda Froelich Life without bees isn’t life at all. Seriously, have you considered just how empty supermarkets would be if the tiny, bumbling insects went extinct? Since the 1980s, bee populations have diminished dramatically. At least 61 culprits – from viruses to pesticides –…
By Beyond Pesticides Aldi Süd, the German supermarket chain with stores in the U.S., has become the first major European retailer to ban pesticides toxic to bees, including the neonicotinoids imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam, from fruits and vegetables produced for their stores. Aldi has requested…
By Claire Bernish A new study by the Environmental Protection Agency has found evidence through a study that backs what activists and environmentalists have asserted for years: one of the most widely used neonicotinoid pesticides can, indeed, cause declines in honeybee populations. But the agency’s…
By Claire Bernish United States — “It’s clear that pollinators are in trouble,” cautioned Taylor Ricketts, lead author of a study mapping the decline in pollinator populations by researchers with the University of Vermont, published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Despite…
By Ariana Marisol The tireless work of bees is one of the main reasons for the possibility of human development on earth. Without them, our planet would be a lot different and the conditions for human development may not have existed. You can save these…
By Heather Callaghan Hope you are not hungry while you read this. A Christmas dinner without bees would be a minimalist lifestyle in the worst way possible. According to University of Reading researchers, in just two decades, worldwide honeybee populations have been cut in half….
Via Christian Science Monitor and Adafruit: A new device might help struggling bee colonies get their buzz back. Using accelerometers, scientists from Nottingham Trent University in England developed a way to “read” the vibration patterns in bees’ dance language. These vibrations, say the scientists, give clues…
By Derrick Broze On Wednesday, a researcher with the United States Department of Agriculture filed a whistleblower complaint alleging his supervisors suspended him in retaliation for his research on pesticides. The complaint follows calls for investigation of both the USDA and the Environmental Protection Agency….
A group of UBC students is betting probiotics could be the key to protecting bees from death caused by harmful pesticides. “We rely heavily on bees for our food. They pollinate more than $15 billion worth of crops in the U.S. every year, but they…
By Derrick Broze On Thursday September 10th, a federal appeals court dealt a huge blow to the pesticide industry by issuing a ruling that blocks the use of a controversial pesticide believed to be causing harm to honey bees. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals…
(Beyond Pesticides, August 19, 2015) Local fogging for mosquito control turned tragic for a Palo Alto, California beekeeper who lost hundreds of honey bees from his backyard hives. The beekeeper, who also produces organic honey, now fears his honey is contaminated. The fogging, which occurred…
By Alex Pietrowski For over the last decade, beekeepers and scientists have been documenting the decline of important pollinators such as honeybees. This decline poses a huge threat to the food supply, because without pollinators some crops wouldn’t exist, while others would suffer in crop…
Natural Blaze More than 70% of pollen and honey samples collected from foraging bees in Massachusetts contain at least one neonicotinoid, a class of pesticide that has been implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in which adult bees abandon their hives during winter, according to…
By Claire Bernish The link between popular pesticides and declining bee populations has been the subject of controversy and the target of research for some time; but the soaring use of fungicides hasn’t received much attention as they were accepted to be harmless to the…
By Carey Wedler As the world’s bee population continues to decline, the community of Oslo, Norway is taking action to protect its pollinators. The Oslo Garden Society is working with the city’s municipal government, businesses, environmental organizations and the public to create a “bumble bee highway”…
By Simple Organic Life Wanting to plant flowers, shrubs and trees that benefit local bee populations? This is your definitive guide of what to plant. Of course, do your research into these plants. You don’t want to accidentally plant something that’s incredibly invasive in your…
A new study shows that more than half the people in some developing countries could become newly at risk for malnutrition if crop-pollinating animals — like bees — continue to decline. Despite popular reports that pollinators are crucial for human nutritional health, no scientific studies…
by Jefferey Jaxen As humanity becomes more conscious to the language of nature, it is clear that mushrooms in their many forms come in peace and are here to help. The uses, benefits, and applications of mushrooms currently seem to be limitless cutting across all…
by Arjun Walia It’s been pretty big news for quite a few years now, the honeybee population has been dying off in very large numbers. At first the cause wasn’t so clear as it could have been for a number of reasons from environmental toxins…
By Heather Callaghan Not just a possible alternative – but totally a preferable alternative to antibiotics whenever possible. People are already using this incredible healing substance without having needed a nod of approval from researchers. And no, we’re not talking about using the actual bees….
