A world without bees
Even the Caveman was able indulge in the occasional sweetness, and the main source I'm referring to is honey. Being diabetic I'm avoiding this in my effort to retrain and reign in my sweet tooth, nevertheless when eating Paleolithic if trying to pacify a sweet craving honey can be enjoyed. Personally I use honey regularly on my skin. A few years ago my hairdresser mentioned that whenever she saw lads with raging red acne skin she had the urge to tell them to smother their faces in honey, it'd do wonders. Well, since then anytime I take a bath a pot of honey accompanies me - it has a wonderful soothing and calming effect and settles any inflammation or spots and leaves your skin feeling wonderfully fresh, clean and soft.
The 'Man of Bicor' depicts early man as a honey gatherer and is believed to date back to the end of the Paleolithic period.
From the earliest days of mankind honey has not only been enjoyed as an edible treat but also a valuable commodity utilized for its medicinal properties, behind Cavemen the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.
Honey has again become popular in modern medicine and there's been a return its use for the antimicrobial properties known to speed up the wound healing process. Additionally bee sting therapy is also claimed to alleviate arthritis. Beekeepers are said by some to be the longest lived professionals and supposedly are less likely to suffer from arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. This longevity is purported to be down to frequent stings and the consumption of propolis, honey, pollen and royal jelly.
Bees in the Environment: Have you noticed less buzz in your gardens this year? Have you heard of Colony Collapse Disorder? Yes, something relatively apocalyptic is happening within the bee world (and therefore to us). Around the world the bees have been disappearing!
We take our bees for granted and many may have have a romantic notion of the local beekeeper gathering honey from two or three hives in his back garden. Anyway, sorry to shatter any illusions but bees are 'Big Business', and although exact cause of the disappearing bees is a mystery man is the most likely culprit; by interfering with their natural lives and by farming bees on a massive scale the world's bees population is experiencing this crisis.
Over the last year or so beekeepers have been visiting their hives to discover that entire colonies have disappeared. However, they're apparently not simply swarming on; any remaining bees found are sick or dead, and the rest of their colony has left and died away from the hive. Spookily abandoned hives are not utilised by other insects or bees - a phenomenon unheard of in nature and sugesting something toxic actually luked within the colony itself.
Despite our love of their products we do little to assist the nature of bees to promote their health and well being. In in the name of profit we industrially farm honey bees, and as a result of our manipulation cause stress and make bees susceptible to disease.
- Honey isn't the only product we obtain from bees we also use them. Bees are our pollinators and there's more money to be had from migratory pollination than there is from honey. Where in some places crops are farmed in huge scales we require bees to pollinate crops so colonies are rented and transported for pollination. However, transporting bees causes them stress and lowers their immune system.
- As with us, bees have nutritional requirements to maintain good health. In nature bees would forage and eat pollen and honey, but because of the decline in natural foraging areas these needs are not being met and beekeepers inadvertently lower the bees immune systems by feeding them a junk food diet full with artificial supplements, protein, syrups, and not being their natural food this can affect their immune systems.
- In nature bees ensure their genetic diversity by the swarming process; when the queens leave with a swarm and are replaced by a new queen. However, again we play with this process and breeding better queens is again profitable. Therefore queens are often killed and replaced and occasionally the Queens wings are clipped to prevent swarming.
- Over the last couple of years bees have been badly affected by varroa, a mite that depresses the bees immunity making them vulnerable to viral illness. Hives that have been left empty often do have evidence of this mite. However, In a healthy colony varroa is sometimes viewed as healthy culling the weaker members, but if the colony is already weak the mites can develop resistance to pesticides and overwhelm the colony.
- Apparently, pesticides used in other crops can also affect bees inducing a type of intoxication disrupting navigation, feeding, memory learning and egg laying.
My thoughts about this is that mankind has always been at the mercy of environment for survival but we have become arrogant in our manipulation of it. Mass production of any natural product without any foresight will have consequences. So, as we are seeing in world of bees, if we continue to disrespect and exploit nature's resources in order to create unrealistic supplies, there will be a knock on effect on us and nature itself will turn in and withdraw what it provides to us, forcing future generations to live more sustainably (or a full circle back the Paleolithic)?
'If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man' Albert Einstein
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