sycamorre:wanashou:beatonna:If you aren’t totally quaking in your boots at the news of millions of b
sycamorre:wanashou:beatonna:If you aren’t totally quaking in your boots at the news of millions of bees dead, yet again, you’re nuts.this should be concerning a lot more people than it isnot only because bees are one of the most important animals in the world and their job is a lot more than gathering honey but also because they are what scientists refer to as an “indicator species”this means that when their populations start dwindling and then rapidly dropping, humans need to watch their shit because that means that environmental factors are too difficult for THEM to live in, so it might be difficult for US to live in, too. bees basically act as an indication that humans have a lot to worry about and when they start dying like this it deserves a lot more than a few headlines.People REALLY need to pay attention when things like this happen.I just finished a semester of Environmental Science and I learned about how bad this was. But 37 million is horrifying.Growing up around agriculture and coming to respect bees a lot, this hits hard for me. What stuck out to me about this little article was that that it was pointing to neonicotinoids and pesitcides. I did a whole project on pesticides, including learning about neonicotinoids, and a lot about their effect on the environment. Pesticide runoff from fields can get into water sources and contaminate them. Helpful insect species like bees and butterflies are harmed when they are so desperately needed.Guys, we’re getting way too dependent on these things.The worst part is that there are actually some really great, natural ways to prevent pests. Certain plant species can naturally repel some insects. Growing different crops in the same field not only encourages biodiversity, it can help prevent pests as well as keeping a widespread crop disease from ruining the entire field. There are certain predatory insect species that actually prey on the pest species, I believe. Even mulching helps both pest prevention and soil quality. If I had my textbook I’d probably be able to list more, but I got a lot of this just from this one webpage. No doubt there’s more out there. The page also says that pesticides should be a last resort.Ok I’ve had my ramble so I’ll close with this: the agriculture business is messed up and needs to start focusing on what’s best for the earth that they’re dependent on, instead of trying to be like those companies who think quantity is better than quality. -- source link
#important#queued