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We still have a bee problem

Published on 9 Comments on We still have a bee problem

This is getting a lot of attention:

This is not quite what's happened. The Andrew Van Dam piece referenced here is great, but you really have to read the whole thing. Here's what he said:

  • The "record number of bees" is almost entirely due to Texas. This is because Texas passed a law in 2012 giving tax breaks to farms that maintain a minimum number of beehives per acre.
  • These are all domesticated honeybees. Basically livestock. They have nothing to do with wild pollinators, which are still in decline. Van Dam is pretty clear about this: "This does not mean we’ve defeated colony collapse. One major citizen-science project found that beekeepers lost almost half of their colonies in the year ending in April 2023, the second-highest loss rate on record.... The consensus holds that pollinators, like all insects, are in decline — losing probably 1 to 2 percent a year."

Bees. They're trickier than you'd think.

9 thoughts on “We still have a bee problem”

  4. Srho

    Why is it so easy for Kevin Drum to undermine the entire premise of so many news reports? Why aren't editors doing this job?

  5. jeffreycmcmahon

    Seems like KD's point "let me explain the bee situation" is somewhat less pertinent here than "Alex Stapp (whoever that is) is deceptive and/or incompetent."

    1. Ugly Moe

      my advice for helping pollinators near you:

      Let the weeds and wildflowers grow, even if just a strip, then watch what happens.

      Don't use pesticides any more than essential, and when you do shoot for the end of the day (although moths might disagree).

    1. weirdnoise

      And probably via the same mechanism. But just like bird flu and chickens, commerce dictates solutions that favor business interests with any benefit (or detriment) to economically irrelevant species an afterthought.

  7. scf

    It should be noted that honey bees are not native to North America and are instead, as Kevin notes, more domestic livestock imported from Europe than wild creatures. Pesticides and loss of habitat are continuing to do a number on the native bees -- bumblebees, carpenter bees, etc. -- who are essential pollinators. The loss of species like polar bears or penguins is tragic, but the loss of pollinators will prove to be a catastrophe that will ultimately significantly impact our food supply. A nice start to reversing the decline would be a ban on neoniconitoid pesticides like Roundup which are particularly devastating to bees.

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