Backwards Beekeepers profit motive has no conscience Organic Gardening Information The Xerces Society » Bees Bees are undoubtedly the most abundant pollinators of flowering plants in our environment. The service that bees and other pollinators provide allows nearly 70 percent of all flowering plants to reproduce; the fruits and seeds from insect pollinated plants account for over 30 percent of the foods and beverages that we consume. Beyond agriculture, pollinators are keystone species in most terrestrial ecosystems. The Xerces Society advocates on behalf of bees. Learn more about our Pollinator Conservation program. Bee Pollen helps avoid allergies, increase…
Illinois illegally seizes Bees Resistant to Monsanto’s Roundup; Kills remaining Queens The Illinois Ag Dept. illegally seized privately owned bees from renowned naturalist, Terrence Ingram, without providing him with a search warrant and before the court hearing on the matter, reports Prairie Advocate News. Behind the obvious violations of his Constitutional rights is Monsanto. Ingram was researching Roundup’s effects on bees, which he’s raised for 58 years. “They ruined 15 years of my research,” he told Prairie Advocate, by stealing most of his stock. A certified letter from the Ag Dept.’s Apiary Inspection Supervisor, Steven D. Chard, stated: “During a routine inspection of your honeybee colonies by … Inspectors Susan Kivikko and Eleanor Balson on October 23, 2011, the bacterial disease ‘American Foulbrood’ was detected in a number of colonies located behind your house…. Ingram can prove his bees did not have foulbrood, and planned to do so at a hearing set in April, but the state seized his bees at the end of March. Source: www.globalresearch.ca Eddie (2136 Posts)
General Motors and Partners Create Detroit Urban Garden Using Repurposed Shipping Crates GM’s metal shipping crates were repurposed into raised beds. Photo: John F. Martin for General Motors They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. Katherine Guzman, 8, of Detroit fills her bag with tomatoes and peppers during the opening Wednesday of Cadillac Urban Gardens. Officially opened Wednesday, the gardens are a collaborative effort initiated in April between General Motors, Ideal Group, Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision, and local composting company, Detroit Dirt. Detroit Dirt founder Pashon Murray, left, and John Bradburn, manager of General Motors’ waste reduction efforts, helped tend the Cadillac Urban Gardens. “Instead of recycling this material, we found a direct reuse, which saves energy and resources,” said John Bradburn, GM’s manager of waste reduction efforts. One of the metal shipping crates repurposed as a raised bed. Katherine Guzman, 8, of Detroit looking for peppers. Photo: John F. Detroit has more than 500 gardens, many on land that once held houses.
Monsanto buys leading bee research firm after being implicated in bee colony collapse (NaturalNews) Amid all the controversy over genetically-modified (GM) crops and their pesticides and herbicides decimating bee populations all around the world, biotechnology behemoth Monsanto has decided to buy out one of the major international firms devoted to studying and protecting bees. According to a company announcement, Beeologics handed over the reins to Monsanto back on September 28, 2011, which means the gene-manipulating giant will now be able to control the flow of information and products coming from Beeologics for colony collapse disorder (CCD). Since 2007, Beeologics has been studying CCD, as well as Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), for the purpose of coming up with intervention-based ways to mitigate these conditions. Now that Beeologics is owned and controlled by Monsanto, the company is sure to completely avoid dealing with the true causes of CCD and IAPV as they pertain to Monsanto’s crop technologies — GMOs and their chemical counterparts.
Bee propolis contains all the vitamins and… What's Happening to Honey Bees? How to Make a Home Garden Greenhouse 1.5 years ago greenhouse, guest post, winter garden As the world is speeding up its pace of development every second, we are losing many important things on earth. Saving environment where we live is the need of the hour. We are losing so much greenery every hour around the world that the time is not far when greenery will be hard to find. Greenhouses are generally built to somewhat gain control over the environment suitable for plants. Frames The greenhouse frames are of three types- the “Quonset” which is simple tunnel shaped, ridged beam with taller gothic shape having arched sidewalls and third one with vertical side walls having able roof. Quonset This basic inexpensive Quonset greenhouse structure is made from 1/2 inch PVC plastic pipe. Gothic Gothic greenhouses are tall as compared to Quonset shape. Rigid Frame These greenhouses are built by professional contractors. These are some of the garden greenhouses which one can make according to his/her requirements and budget. Like this:
Leaked document shows EPA allowed bee-toxic pesticide despite own scientists’ red flags Follow the honey: Smoking bees makes them less mad when you move them, but leaked EPA documents might have the opposite effect. It’s not just the State and Defense departments that are reeling this month from leaked documents. The Environmental Protection Agency now has some explaining to do, too. In place of dodgy dealings with foreign leaders, this case involves the German agrichemical giant Bayer; a pesticide with an unpronounceable name, clothianidin; and an insect species crucial to food production (as well as a food producer itself), the honeybee. And in lieu of a memo leaked to a globetrotting Australian, this one features a document delivered to a long-time Colorado beekeeper. All of that, plus my favorite crop to fixate on: industrial corn, which blankets 88 million acres of farmland nationwide and produces a bounty of protein-rich pollen on which honeybees love to feast. It’s The Agency Who Kicked the Beehive, as written by Jonathan Franzen! Hive talking Wimpy watchdogging
Beesource.com - Beekeeping Resources For Beekeepers Since 1997! More evidence links pesticides to honeybee losses Photo by Rebecca Reardon. It’s been three weeks since beekeepers filed a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remove clothianidin — the pesticide widely suspected to be wreaking havoc on honeybee populations — from the market. In that time three studies have been released that strengthen the link between bee die-offs and neonicotinoids (neonics), the chemical family of which clothianidin is a member. Here’s what they found: Study No. 1: Bees exposed to pesticides are getting lost. French researchers found that honeybees exposed to the neonic pesticide thiamethoxam had trouble finding their way back to their hives — no small problem for a foraging species. Study No. 2: Bee colonies exposed to pesticides are smaller and the ratio of males to females is way off. Study No. 3: The more pesticides bees are exposed to, the faster they die. Bonus irony: High fructose corn syrup is bad for bees too. Let’s get this straight.