Bees in the US are dying this year from a problem called Colony Collapse Disorder,,,the bees just abandon their hives en masse and disappear...in some places on the East Coast up to 70% of hives are empty. And it is spreading west.
In the last 20 years, wild honeybees and domesticated bees have been decimated by a mite from Asia called the varroa mite. Now Colony Collapse Disorder is doing a good job of wiping out the ones we have left. As you know, we need bees to pollinate our food crops. Commercial beekeepers that travel with hives and pollinate orchards and fields across the country for giant agribusiness crops have lost up to 90% of their bees this year. This is really bad news if you like to eat. And really bad news if you care about living things. No one can figure out what is causing it...cell phones? GMO crops? pesticides? fungus? Whatever it is, the bees are dying out fast.
Newspapers are reporting conflicting stories. Some beekeepers are taking it very seriously, other experts say this happens occassionally and is nothing to worry about. It seems to be hitting the commercial beekeepers the hardest. Organic beekeepers are not reporting as many losses.
Wikipedia has a thorough account. And you can find more info at celsias.com, the Washington Post, NPR.com and The New York Times
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